An Undefined Search
by Lady of Weirdness
Summary: AU She needed someone to help her leave Konoha-The man released his grip from the pervert. His piercing, red eyes soon faded into black while he turned towards Sakura who just simply blushed at his actions-And I think she found him.
1. Prolouge and Hired

_The summary was a just a teaser. Here's the real one:_

Sakura's fiancée has left Konoha for fulfill his mission and has never returned. He is now claimed as dead but she believes that he is alive somewhere. Sakura wants to leave home to search for him. But a woman like her can't travel in a world like today. Unless she hires a bodyguard named Uchiha Sasuke...

_Hi! This is an idea I was tinkering with. I thought of an anime series I wanted to use. So here it is! My first Naruto fic. This is what happens when you start to read any animé fiction. As soon as you read one, **one** (especially if it's a good one), you get hooked. (sighs) _

_Obviously, Naruto doesn't belong to me but their respectful owners. All suggestions are welcome. Just a little reminder that this is an **AU FIC**_, _slightly. Some things might be a little screwy. But I'll try not to get a little too AU. Also, there are other hints of other couplings, if you don't support them, just ignore that part... _

_Thanks and enjoy!_

_

* * *

_

**An Undefined Search **

**PROLOGUE:** _Desperate News_

_

* * *

_

I got up this morning to the sound of those damn irritating birds chirp. They're too cheerful. It always depresses me in the morning. I shook my head then followed by a stretch of my arms. My legs dragged me to the bathroom where I fixed myself up.

_My name is Haruno Sakura. I'm currently working in the __Yamanaka-Nara__ inn and living in one of their rooms. Everyone treats me differently because they think that I'm **so** helpless, that I would need their sympathy. And it was only because my family has been killed. They were killed during a mission because they were ninjas. Now, everyone thinks I'm "so alone" in the world. Honestly, I don't want it. That's how I became one of those people that like to show that we're able to handle the world by ourselves. I hate it when people give me pity because I'm weak. But I'm not weak at all; I can take care of myself. I'm twenty-one years old, damnit! I can surely take care of myself. _

After spitting out the toothpaste, I looked up at the mirror and remembered one good memory that was probably worth while.

_Since I was a teenager, everyone would make silent comments behind my back. My only friend was Naruto, an over-hyper-cat-look-a-like type of person. He was always happy and cheerful. Yeah, he did bug me a lot of his constant tries to get a date or attempts to marry me. But he was always there for me. He was my best friend. _

_Over the years, I've met Hyuuga Neji. He was more refined than Naruto. We would occasionally go on dates, even though Naruto would **accidentally** appear. I was happy with Neji. He made me feel wanted. Then he popped the big question to me and I accepted. Soon I'll become part of the Hyuuga family. _

_But a year ago, Neji was called by the ANBU to accompany them in a mission. We both knew pretty much how dangerous it would turn out. But he promised me that he'd be back. And as soon as he comes back, we'll get married. I wished him good lock and goodbye before his figure disappeared in the horizon. _

_The only problem is...he hasn't returned yet... _

_It's been over a year; and they claim him and his team dead. I only want to hear otherwise.

* * *

_

CHAPTER 1: _Hired

* * *

_

Sakura zipped up her burgundy red, strapless, uniform dress, that was up to only three inches over her knee, under her open over-shirt that came up to the middle of her stomach. The shirt was the same burgundy red color, plain, and sleeves had stopped half-way to her elbows finishing with white lace at the end and gold plated nametag over one side of her chest. She took her _customized _collar and placed it around her neck. The custom collar was white and had half a completed ribbon on each side. One side had a loop of a garter while the other had a round gold plate. She connected the loop over the gold plate to make the illusion of a complete ribbon and a gold plate covering the knot. She then slipped on her white socks that reached past her knees followed by her red uniform shoes. To finish it all off, she tied her lace headband on top of her pink head. Then I combed out the ends of her hair to add a little style to it.

She stepped out of the room and made her way down the long corridor. Then her feet trailed down the staircase. She saw a familiar blonde in the lobby with her hands resting on her side. She was tall with her long blonde hair tied up. Her uniform was similar to Sakura but it place of her open shirt, she wore a blazer. Sakura recognized that angry face anywhere and especially those haunting eyes. She back turned slowly to creep back upstairs when her voice yelled, "**_HARUNO!_**" _Damn_.

Sakura quickly turned to her boss, scratched the back of her head and laughed, "Haha! Ino-chan! Ohayo!" She walked down the stairs to see her friend.

"Don't _Ohayo_ me! You're late! How can you be so irresponsible!" Ino exclaimed walking up to Sakura.

"I-I overslept!"

"Overslept? _Overslept!_ You sleep upstairs! It's amazing how you can arrive _so _late, if you can get to work in just fifteen steps!"

Sakura wailed, "I said I was sorry!" Ino snared at Sakura and grabbed her by her uniform. Ino led her away from the other employees into an empty hallway.

Ino and Sakura have been friends but enemies when it comes to boys. Despite that, they were friends that do actually get along. Ino's family started out with a small floral house then soon grew in territory. After, they had built a larger house to make use of their new area. When the renovation was done, they decided to open it as an inn.

Now that they were in an empty hallway, Ino's long blonde hair whipped behind her as she turned to face Sakura. Ino crossed her arms and tapped her foot. "So, what's your excuse this time? Why did you oversleep?"

Sakura blushed in front of Ino and turned her face away, "I-It isn't worth mentioning. I should get back to work." Sakura tried to slip by. "Like you said, I have to get to work as fast as I can!"

"Iie!" Ino grabbed her friend's shoulder and held it tight, "I wanna know what happened!" Ino paused then smirked, "You had a dream about Hyuuga-kun, didn't you?"

"Eh?" Sakura blushed, "Nothing like that!" She shook her head.

Ino made a seductive smirk, "I bet so. _Oh, Neji! Oh, Neji!_" She joked as she folded her hands and pranced around Sakura imitating her voice.

"**Shut up, Ino-pig!**" Sakura exclaimed trying to make her shut up. Yet, Ino kept imitating her voice. Sakura finally took her hand and covered Ino's mouth that was now laughing. "You don't see me making fun of your love life with Shikamaru!" Sakura snapped still blushing at Ino's actions.

Yup, it is true. Shikamaru and Ino had been married for nearly two years. The both of them owned the inn and did equal share, even though Ino was the one who mainly ran everything. Since Ino had taken the part as owner and manager, Shikamaru was usually tending the bar and the bills that came with the business.

"Gomen nasai," She mumbled through Sakura's hand. After things had settled down Sakura released her hand and turned to the lobby, "You do miss him, right?" Ino asked stopping Sakura dead in her tracks. Taking that as a yes, Ino continued, "You do know that they never came back yet? It's been over a year since you, or any of us, has last seen them, Sakura. You don't have to be brave about it. Most of us are accepting that he and the others are gone and never coming back."

Sakura continued to walk towards the lobby leaving Ino behind to mumble little things like how stubborn Sakura is.

* * *

Later that afternoon, Sakura walked into the lobby while pushing a cart with room items, such as towels, extra blankets, miniature bottles of shampoo and conditioner, soap, etc. Her eyes were heavy and dark circles appeared under her eyes as she parked the cart next to front desk. Sakura dragged her feet until her body found a seat (behind the counter) and fell onto it. Her left arm hung over the armrest as her right hand rested on her stomach and her head looked like it almost fell over the back of the chair. Sakura's mouth was opened and drool slowly trailed down her chin. 

Just walking in with the same uniform and a bunch of papers, Hinata yelped seeing her seat being occupied the scary-looking Sakura. The papers that Hinata held on was now scattered around the counter and floor. "Sa-sakura-chan!" Hinata held her heart hoping that her heart rate would become steadier. "Ar-are you okay? You seem kinda..._tense_." Hinata replaced the word scary.

"Remind me again, why I have this job?" Sakura mumbled as she took tissue from the box and wiped her mouth. Sakura picked herself up and helped gathered her friends' paperwork. "I just bumped into the craziest person. She was tall and plump. She demanded to have her sheets changed hourly"

"Hourly!" Hinata repeated.

"_And _had to smell like jasmines," Sakura added picking up the final sheet, "I told her that the inn is trying to conserve the water supply. But she just insisted and demanded for more bottles of the shampoo and conditioner. I gave her five and then she asked if there were other brands because _this one destroys her natural hair shine_. I tried so hard not to take a towel and stuff it down her throat." Sakura fumed. She sat back on Hinata's seat and started to curl a towel from the cart and eventually split in half.

Hinata silently responded, "That doesn't seem very pleasant..."

Hinata organized the paper and sat quietly next to Sakura, "And the strangest thing happened..."

Hinata's attention was now caught. She turned towards her pink-haired friend and spoke softly, "What do you mean?"

"After the meeting with that lady," Sakura picked up a pencil and started to attempt to balance it using her index finger, "There was this guy, in the hall. I think he just checked in because I haven't seen him before. That and he had a travel bag in his hand. He had those dark eyes" Sakura paused, "there was something about them..."

"Are you starting to forget my cousin?" Hinata giggled as Sakura started to debate, "Iie! Iie! Never! I love Neji-kun with all my heart..." Sakura mumbled holding onto the ring which showed that promise, "That's why I have a plan, Hinata. I want to find him and bring him back."

"Bring him back? Demo, you don't even know where he is!"

"Ever heard of follow your heart?" Sakura winked, "Speaking of hearts, Hinata-chan, how's the progress with Naruto going?"

"Hmm?" Hinata blushed hearing his name. She quickly escaped the stare that Sakura made and started fiddling her fingers. "II didn'didn't tell him, yet." Hinata kept her stare away from Sakura.

"Eh? Doushite! " Sakura retorted in disbelief, "All you have to do is walk up to him, face him and look directly and say, _Naruto-kun, Aishiteru!_ and then _chuu_!" Sakura taunted.

Hinata's blush became redder as she continued to fiddle with her fingers, "If only it were that easy..."

Sakura noticed her friend's actions and sighed. "Really, Hinata, I don't understand why you like the guy. The only thing he's good for is kids."

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"Take a look." Sakura replied pointing towards Naruto who just entered the lobby with a group of kids. Naruto's features hadn't changed except for the fact that he had grown taller and more built. He still had the sheepish grin and naive spirit. Even though that same grin made others disbelieve in him, he was able to bring it all around.

Naruto ran into the lobby in his uniform; a white dress shirt with his sloppy-done, red tie and the same burgundy red color with an unbuttoned vest. With his sleeves rolled up, he dug his hands into the uniform pants with his black shoes. His facial expression was rather annoyed as kids kept chatting away.

"_Naruto-nii-chan, why do you have whiskers?_"

"—Because I'm cool." He retorted, not looking at the child.

Another asked, "_How come you have the job of watching us?_"

"—Because I'm cool."

"_Why are you so ugly?_"

"—Because I'm—**_e_****_h!_**" Naruto snapped hearing the kid's question. Naruto's eyes narrowed as he made a death glare to the child. "**What**—**did**—**you**—**say, _PUNK?_**"

"You heard me," The kid replied while shaking his bottom at him, "Ugly butt—ugly butt—ug-ly **butt**! Naruto-nii-chan has a _pretty_ butt? **NO!** **_AN UGLY BUTT!_**" While the other kids laughed along with him.

"Why you—!"

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled, "Leave him alone! Remember, his parents help Ino with our paychecks, _if you know what I mean_."

Naruto stared, "No, I don't know what you mean..." Sakura slapped her forehead thanks to his stupidity.

"_Ah! Sakura-nee-chan! Is Naruto-nii-chan a Jounin-level ninja?_" A little boy climbed the desk area where Sakura was in.

"Of course he is." Sakura smiled sweetly to the little boy.

"_And he works here only when he doesn't have a mission, ne?_"

"Hai," Sakura still kept her smile.

A little girl climbed the opposite side. "_And Naruto-nii-chan said that he is the most handsome-est ninja of all!_"

Sakura's faced sunny, happy face turned dull, "Come again?"

"_He said he was the most handsome-est ninja of all!_"

"Kid, I don't mean to get your hopes up, but I won't call Naruto-nii-chan…_handsome_."

"_She just says it because she's over whelmed._" Naruto whispered to his little followers, who just nodded or said _Oh_.

"**SAKURA! **I don't pay you to do just sit and yell at this time of the afternoon!" Ino stormed into the lobby. Surprised, Sakura fell back on her chair after hearing her voice.

"**Sakura-nee-chan!**" The kids shouted in concern.

"I thought you were supposed to clean the spare rooms around now!"

"I finished early," Sakura retorted simply standing up from the floor.

Ino's face became stern as she leaned on the counter, "Didn't I tell you that if you finish _so much earlier_ than usual—" Sakura paused and looked at her boss with a horrified look," —you—" Sakura shook her head in disbelief, "—have—" Ino started to smirk seeing Sakura's reactions.

"**_NNNNOOOOO!_**" Sakura shook her head while covering her ears.

Ino's smirk turned into an evil grin, "—Bar duty..."

As Sakura's inner self screamed in agony, Hinata mumbled, "Bar duty? What exactly is this _bar duty_?"

Sakura stopped her bellyaching and looked at Hinata. "You never had bar duty?" Naruto questioned as the kids pulled his vest and pants out of boredom.

"Of course she hasn't!" Ino shouted glaring at Sakura and Naruto, "Unlike you two, _she _actually does her work on time and correctly!" Ino faced Hinata and smile sweetly, "Bar duty is just another two words for nightshift. The bar is the only part of the inn that is open after midnight, except for the front desk. It's nothing really."

"Except when you're stuck with smelly drunkards for the next six hours," Sakura whispered.

"Hahaha! Sakura-chan has bar duty!" Naruto exclaimed laughing. One hand was holding his stomach while the other pointed at the now furious Sakura. One by one, the kids behind him started to mimic his every movement.

"Naruto!" Ino shot back, "You must have late night duty tonight also!"

Naruto's laugh came to an abrupt stop when he heard Ino's last phrase, "Heh?" The kids, now stopped laughing at Sakura, suddenly pointing and laughing at their nii-chan, "Wha—Why me? I didn't do anything!"

"You're manipulating these innocent children." Ino's voice suddenly changed when she faced the _innocent children_ and said, "Hey, how do you feel if Naruto-sempai could stay with you a little longer? What do you say that?"

Hoping that they would protest, Naruto prayed. "We'd love that!" They exclaimed. Naruto's mouth hangs down wide. "We love him _soo_ much!" The kids exclaimed as they hung around various parts of his leg.

"Aww, isn't that sweet?" Ino smiled once more as she prepared herself to leave, "Remember you two have the late shift!" Sakura walked and stood next to Naruto with the same facial expression.

"Oni...(1)" Both Sakura and Naruto said narrowing their eyes.

"Ah! Hinata-nee-chan! They're scary!" The little kids exclaimed, looking at Sakura and Naruto's faces.

"_Ah! Sakura-san!_" A voice called from the door. All heads to see a familiar face to our older characters.

"Konnichiwa, Lee-kun." Sakura commented seeing the man walk closer.

"Hey, kids! It's fuzzy brows!" Naruto taunted as the kids laughed along.

"Konnichiwa, Lee-san." Hinata greeted with a smile.

"Nice to see you still have your sense of humor, Naruto." Lee chuckled back. "Hello, Hinata, how's it going?" He smiled back at Hinata then faced his love, "And you look as beautiful as ever, Sakura-san."

Sakura made a light shade of red appear upon her cheeks before the other kids made little comments seeing the color in Sakura's cheeks. "Arigatou, Lee-kun."

"Ano, Sakura-san," Lee rubbed his arm and asked, "How you please give me the honor of enjoying an evening with me tonight?"

"Gomen, Lee-kun." Sakura smiled softly, "Ino had just given me the late night shift." And in reality, she was happy that she did. "I wish you would have caught me earlier."

"That's okay," Lee smiled, "I guess I'll just come back tomorrow." Lee bowed to Sakura and took her hand and made a light peck on her delicate fingers before exiting with one final farewell.

"_Ah, Sakura-nee-chan!_" One little girl pulled Sakura's skirt called, "_Do you like **fuzzy brows**?_"

"Ano…" Sakura smiled a fake one and asked, "What do you think?"

"**_I hope you don't!_**" The kid that called Naruto an ugly butt cried, "**_He has fuzzy eyebrows!_**"

The others laughed after his comment. If only Sakura had not laughed along, she would have notice a pair of dark eyes eyeing her from the top of the staircase observing the whole scene.

* * *

"_Ah! Oi! One more round over here, sweet cheeks!_" 

Sakura smiled helplessly serving another container of alcohol to a middle-aged pervert. He looked at her almost seductively and winked. Sakura shook her head in reply and walked away.

"_Oh yeah, she wants me…_"

"Please remind me, again, why am I here?" Sakura sighed as she took one seat on counter where Shikamaru just laughed in response. Sakura buried her head into her palms, still hearing the comments from the men on the opposite side.

"Two words: My wife." Shikamaru laughed taking a glass of water out for Sakura.

Sakura looked helplessly at the glass and pouted, "That's it? Not even a shot of alcohol?" Sakura took the glass reluctantly and drank it all in one gulp.

"You're on the job, remember?" Shikamaru received the glass from Sakura and wiped it with the towel cloth on his side. "After working as a bartender, I can sort of tell what people are most likely to do when drunk." He replied sarcastically.

"On the job or not, I need about fifty pitchers of alcohol to make _them _seem worth it." Sakura commented pointing towards the guys with a beckon of her head.

"I thought you weren't into those types of guys." Shikamaru raised his brow as he handed Sakura one more glass of water, then leaned towards the counter.

"That's the thing," Sakura took the glass and gulped it down, "I'm not."

"_Oi! Ojyou-san!(2)_" The drunk perv called, "_We would like another round!_"

"Watch me kill myself." Sakura mumbled loud enough for Shikamaru to hear. He chuckled in return. Shikamaru filled another pitcher. Sakura walked casually as she could to the drunkard. "Here's the pitcher you ordered." Sakura smiled in a fake matter. She had turned abruptly before hearing anymore annoying and perverted comments.

"You're wife has some nerve to make me work late at this hour with these bozos." Sakura sank back in her seat in front of Shikamaru.

"I think Naruto has it worse." Shikamaru chuckled quietly to himself, remembering the little kids around him. "Besides, I don't think everyone here are idiots. That guy in the corner is pretty quiet." Shikamaru beckoned with his head towards a man in the corner. His attire was descent but uncommon in Konoha. His fingers were intertwined with one another and covered his mouth and nostrils. His eyes were closed, which seemed like he was meditating. "I'd say he's my favorite customer, takes his drink, sits in the damn seat, doesn't ask for much, **and **leaves a good tip as well."

Sakura shivered, "And you didn't mention the cold atmosphere." Even though she made that as an insult (and everyone knows that insults are for people they don't think so fondly of), she couldn't keep her eyes away from him. She had stared at him as if he had some type of spell that was so compelling to her. Whatever it was, it was working.

'_Wait a minute. Isn't that the guy I bumped into this morning?_'

"Sakura?" Shikamaru interrupted her thoughts. "I think that guy needs a refill." He pointed to the guy. Sakura's eyes wondered to the guy once more to his arm is up raising his glass.

"Oh, right!" Sakura jumped from her seat and took another glass filled up by Shikamaru. She got down from her seat and tried to make her way towards the guy. However she had a sudden roadblock. The drunkards started to play a little game called "_screw-around-with-the-waitress_"

The drunkard closest to Sakura lifted his leg on the opposite chair from himself to block Sakura from her path, "_Oi! Ojyou-san! Another round!_" He shook his glass like a little bell.

"Gomen nasai," Sakura said calmly, "Demo…I believe you have had your last drink for tonight." Sakura tried to walk briskly away from him.

"No problem," He stood from his seat and grabbed the glass of alcohol on Sakura's tray. "I'll just have this one."

Keeping her cool, Sakura lowered her balled up fist, "Fine, sir. Demo, that's you're last glass, got it?"

This sudden change in her voice caused the man in the corner to open his eyes and become aware of the uprising action.

"Hai!" His voice imitated what sounded like an academy student's response towards a teacher. Sakura shook her head in response. But the perverted drunkard grabbed Sakura's ass and made a really tight squeeze, "If these would kindly stay on my lap."

Shikamaru raised his head to see Sakura's pre-battle symptoms with a heavy death glare. "Great," Shikamaru sighed, "This happens right after I have the place cleaned up. Arigatou, Kami-san, arigatou. (3)" He raised his arms with such sarcasm. He turned around quickly to pick up the phone located behind him. He dialed an extension and awaited the other end.

"**_Yamanaka-Nara Inn, Uzumaki Naruto speaking; how can I make your life a living hell?_**" Naruto yawned through the other line.

"Naruto, you lazy ass bum! What the hell are you doing at the front desk?" Shikamaru raged.

"**_Hinata left for home already. The kids I was supposed to watch went to their rooms with their parents. And now, I'm taking the front desk until five in the morning. Now, how may I make your life a living hell?_**" Naruto asked with a hint of drowsiness.

"You're a sad excuse for an employee." Shikamaru sighed, "Since you're here (and a Jounin), do you mind kicking some drunkard's ass? He's harassing Sakura." He sighed. "And I think I'm still under probation thanks to the last fight that I tried to clear up."

Naruto groaned as he slowly got up from his seat, "**_I'll be there. Now, how can I make your life a living hell?_**"

"Now, you're just being stupid." Shikamaru commented before hanging up on Naruto.

"Sir," Sakura could reply with the best face she can put up at the last hour it was, "I request an apology for the rude behavior displayed. I don't find it attractive if a man touches a woman in an uncomfortable way." Heck, it was a better response then fuck off.

"How about, no, I won't apologize." He drunkard smiled with a cross between perversely and sheepishly. Sakura glared at the man before kicking his shin then his crotch.

"**Bitch!**" One of his companions exclaimed willing to punish Sakura. Preparing herself for the worst, Sakura shielded herself by crossing her arms together in front of her face. However, when there had been no signs of impact, Sakura released herself from her defense to see someone already taking the fall for her, except there wasn't really any _fall_.

It was the man with good tips protecting her. He looked at the drunkard's companion without an emotion. His gaze turned, along with the drunkard's companion, to his hand that gripped the attack. The guy smirked while taking only his hand to cause his body to swing onto the wall.

The drunkard was speechless of this guy's action. Yet, he was still pissed about Sakura's bold action towards him. He got up and raised his palm to Sakura.

However, the guy grabbed his wrist and wringed it tightly. The drunkard looked at this guy and noticed that he had no remorse.

"You shouldn't touch a lady." The man said as he released his grip from the pervert. The drunkard, now feeling crippled thanks to the lost of his blood circulation, fell onto the ground.

The man's piercing, red eyes soon faded into black while it turned towards Sakura who just simply blushed at his actions.

'_He's the one_,' Sakura thought, '_he's going to help me bring Neji back_.'

Her eyes stared deeply into this man's onyx ones. She remembered that it was the same pair of eyes that she had met earlier this morning. She didn't even realize his dark blue hair, or his strange attire that gave away that he didn't live in Konoha. All she knew was that his eyes were taking her in and devouring all sense of feeling.

Naruto ran into the bar and panted, "What—what have I missed?" His eyes fixed on the scene that had just occurred; a damaged wall with an unconscious man, another one on the floor unconscious, a blushing Sakura, and a mysterious expression on some guy's face. Yup, Naruto had just missed a scene.

The man started to walk pass Sakura without a change in expression. "A—ari—arigatou," Sakura stuttered while holding her hands next to her chest. The man, however, did not reply.

He, instead, walked towards Shikamaru and raised his balled up hand to him. "This should cover for the damages." He realized the content onto Shikamaru's hand. The man walked on of the bar without another word said. Well, maybe not…

"You have dried drool on your mouth, and it's really annoying me." He commented to Naruto without facing him. He continued to walk as Naruto wiped the white dust on the side of his lips.

"Sakura-chan!" He called while making his way to her. "What happened? Are you okay? You're not hurt, ne?"

"Daijoubu, Naruto." Sakura smiled weakly, thanks to the sudden attention of Naruto.

"Who the hell was that guy?" Naruto scoffed. "He had the nerve to act all high and mighty, like he's part of the ANBU."

"I don't even know his name, Naruto." Sakura sighed. Shikamaru suddenly yelped causing the two to turn heads, "Shikamaru?"

"He—he—gave us. An—an extremely…_large_ tip this time." Shikamaru laughed almost psychotically.

* * *

Hinata leveled the papers, the next morning. She placed the sheets in it's appropriate places without noticing a familiar friend walk up to the desk. 

"Ohayo, Hinata…"

Hinata took some papers from a folder and greeted, "Ohay-_ooo!_" Yet she screamed at the last syllable causing all those paper to fly. She had seen Sakura's heavy-eyed face. "Sa—Sakura? Is that you?"

"I shall repeat, _Ohayo, Hinata_…"

"Sakura, a—are you okay?" Hinata went to the other side to guide Sakura to an office chair next to hers.

"I'm tired." Sakura sighed.

"I can see that." Hinata exclaimed seeing Sakura's disrupted uniform, "Was last _that _horrible?" She helped Sakura fixed her tilted skirt, uneven socks, incorrectly done collar, headband, and her sideways name plate, while she explained her story. "I guess it was that horrible…"

"That same guy I told you about yesterday was there." Sakura made a small smile that Hinata couldn't see.

"So? What's so important about him being there?"

"Remember I told you yesterday that I had a plan to bring Neji back?" Sakura asked with a little smirk. All Hinata could do was respond with a simple nod. "What if I told you that my plan to find him involves a man that helped me yesterday?"

Hinata nodded slightly but her eyes widened realizing what Sakura was hinting. "**What? Are you kidding me—?**"

"—_Shhhh!_" Sakura whispered her, "_I don't want anyone else to know!_"

"To know about what, Sakura?" Sakura and Hinata's head turned to see Ino holding a folder with one hand and holding her hips on the other. All Sakura responded was incoherent stutter while Ino would repeat her question.

"She wants to find Neji." Hinata blurted out.

"_Arigatou, Hinata…_" Sakura said sarcastically.

"_You _want to find Neji and bring him back?" Ino asked with disbelief. "You gotta be kidding me! I told you yesterday about my feelings about this. He hasn't been found! The odds are that the guy is dead!"

"I'm not willing to give up," Sakura eyes Ino with a serious tone, "Not now at least."

"Then how do you plan on during this?"

"Well, I—I was thinking of hiring someone." Sakura reasoned.

"And just who would _someone_ be?" Ino responded.

"_Excuse me_," Someone tapped Ino's should then signaled for her to move. Ino stared at this person with her mouth hanging a little. She did as she'd been asked for as the person made his way to Hinata. Ino faced Sakura who sat stiff looking at this familiar face.

"May I ask you a favor?" This guy asked Hinata without any intention of flirting, "I'll be out for a couple of hours, so if, by any chance, someone comes looking for me, please tell them that I'll be back soon."

"Umm… okay." Hinata wrote the request on a little piece of paper. The guy bowed his head slightly as he walked his way to the door. "Oh, you're name, sir?"

He turned, for what seemed, slowly with grace, "Room 214." And exited.

Ino walked closer to the counter and slightly titled her head to Sakura, "That didn't happen to be…uh…that someone?" Sakura nodded softly while Ino made one large sigh, "I wouldn't mind hiring him at all, and keeping him for long hours if necessary."

"INO!" Sakura and Hinata exclaimed shockingly. "Have you already forgotten a certain phrase that goes like '_I'll always love you, Shikamaru_.' ?" Sakura raised her eyebrow.

"Did you see that guy?" Ino responded in disbelief. "Hinata, look for Room 214!" She commanded the poor girl while she flipped through the pages thoroughly.

"Room 214; assigned to…" Hinata read, "An Uchiha Sasuke."

"Uchiha," Ino started.

"Sasuke." Sakura finished as the three remained silent for a little while.

* * *

Sakura was outside his room's door, pacing back and forth while reciting her _so-called_ lines. 

_"Are you sure you want to hire him?" Ino asked with a tone of worry, following the storming Sakura along with Hinata. "He might be…you know…a bandit or something like that." _

_"That's true," Hinata agreed holding her hands to her chest, "You didn't even know his name." _

_"I know that he is more than qualified to escort me." Sakura responded without turning her head back to her two concerning friends. _

_"You could have hired any ninja to escort you." Hinata reasoned, "Just ask Hokage-sama, she'll give you a strong one. I bet Naruto wouldn't even hesitate to escort you." _

_"Hai, hai," Ino nodded, "If—if you're alone with someone you don't know, especially him, who knows what'll happen—" _

_"—I don't know if you two were listening," Sakura stopped abruptly and turned to both Ino and Hinata, "But he saved me—" _

_"—From only drunkards!" Ino shouted. _

_"—But still saved me." Sakura glared. "I'll do anything to find Neji and bring him home." _

"Ohh, man…" Sakura rubbed her fingers together trying to take out all the time that now developed.

_Sakura walked back into the lobby where Hinata looked at Sakura with worry. Slowly, Sakura approached Hinata and asked in a low voice, "Did he return?" _

_Hinata lowered her gaze from Sakura and softly replied, "Hai." _

_"Arigatou," Sakura turned to head towards the large staircase. _

_"Sakura!" Hinata called, causing Sakura to turn so abruptly, "Be careful…" _

Sakura sighed once more before taking the courage to raise her arm and ball her fist. Her fist started to shake once more out of fear. '_You can do it!_' Sakura's inner self scolded. She mustered up her courage once more then closed her eyes. She knocked with three quick taps of the door. She opened her eyes almost happy that she had gone passed this stage. '_Thank him first, then introduce yourself, then ask if he escort you…_' Sakura's inner self said repeatedly making sure Sakura never lost track of what she was supposed to do.

The door creaked open. Sakura stood still awaiting for this Uchiha Sasuke walk through the door.

When the door fully opened, she almost got a nosebleed seeing what this guy was wearing. Sasuke's body leaned against the frame of the door thanks to his arm that pressed against the frame, shirtless. Sakura felt her blood boiling seeing this man's well built, six-packed chest. Her eyes were so fixed on his chest that she didn't notice the black sweatpants he was wearing.

"Do you intend on telling me what you want, Sakura?" He glared.

Sakura shot opened after hearing her name, "How—how did you know my name?"

Sasuke pointed towards her nameplate. Sakura had a small tint of red because: 1) she showed some trace of stupidity and 2) where he was pointing.

"Ano…" Sakura tried to remember what she was supposed to ask.

'**_Thank the incredibly sexy man!_**' Sakura's inner self screamed.

"Arigatou!" Sakura bowed, "I don't know if you heard me last night but I tried to thank you for saving me from the sexual harassment I had."

"I heard you." He responded as if he was starting to become a little annoyed by her presence.

"Th—then…" Sakura was doing it again…

'**_Introduce yourself to the incredibly sexy man!_**'

"I—I'm Haruno Sakura, you—you saved me oth—other night—"

"—I believe we've stated that fact." Sasuke sighed.

"Okay, th-then…" Sakura mentally slapped herself trying to think of what to do. This guy was catching everything she had rehearsed.

'**_Ask the incredibly sexy man to escort you!_**'

Sakura's blush became a little redder while replaying what her inner self said, and thinking of some impure thoughts that came to mind. Instead of asking him about her situation, she asked, "May—May I come in?"

This caught Sasuke off guard. She? She wants to go into a guy's room? Was it even legal for the maid to ask the customer if she could step into the room? Whatever it was or not, Sasuke moved out of the way and allowed Sakura to enter.

* * *

_(1) Devil/ Demon__  
(2) Means "Lady" in a polite way__  
(3) Thanks, God, thanks._

_So, what do you think? Is it worthy to be **actually **called Naruto fiction? (laughs) Thanks for reading and please review! It makes the authoress a very happy person. (And it tells her that she needs to continue (chuckles)!)  
_


	2. A Change in Mind?

Chapter 2: _A Change in Mind?_

* * *

Sakura walked into the room which she had recognized as one of the many that she prepared for the guests. She noticed that instead of using the eclectic lights, he used one of the candles prepared used in case of blackouts. It was placed next to the night stand. 

Why in the name of God did he use a candle instead of the lights? Does he need something like a nightlight to help him sleep instead of embarrassing himself for asking for one? Sakura shook her head. No! This is serious! She sighed to calm herself as her inner self kept screaming for her to do something.

As Sasuke closed the door behind them, Sakura turned on her heel to face him properly. Her knees stood still and strong as Sasuke walked deeper into the room. She followed. But as soon as she approached the center of the room, which was near the bed, those strong knees started to wobble seeing Sasuke again. The chest that she stared at before was now glistening thanks to the solemn source of light. She placed her hand on the mattress to make her support. She took the liberty to sit.

"Okay, have a seat?" Sasuke commented seeing her already done so. He approached her, sitting several inches away from her on the mattress facing forward.

"Uh-umm…" Sakura tried to take the liberty of making the first move. Yet her mind wouldn't concentrate properly. "I…I—"

"—just say something," He sighed crossing his arms against his chest. "I did want to have some sleep."

"I wanted…to say… than—thank you." She finally blurted it out, "About—about those guys down stairs."

"You don't have to thank me." He scoffed diverting his gaze towards something else in the room.

'**_You're a real conversationalist, aren't you?_**' Sakura's inner self laughed sarcastically knowing where their conversation was going.

Sakura gnashed her teeth, "Oh, like you can any do better!" She exclaimed a loud to her inner voice.

Sasuke raised his brow, "Excuse me?"

Sakura shook her head wildly, "I-I didn't mean you. Ah—" She couldn't explain to him that she had an inner voice that speaks to her from time to time. She was twenty years old! Only lame retards had inner voices at that age **and still listen in them!**

Before Sasuke could respond, Sakura sighed. '_Enough playing games,_' she commanded herself and courageously looked at Sasuke with a bewildered look that was read as _I-knew-I-should-have-said-no_. "The truth of the matter is," She paused seeking the courage to say it out loud. "I need someone to help me." She started.

Sasuke still had bewildered look. "I need someone escort me to look for—" She fought her mind whether she would say Neji's relation to her, "—my friend. He was in a mission a year ago and has never returned. I need someone to accompany me during my journey, in search for him. I can't go out there by myself. Especially with the un-useful skills I know. What I'm saying is," She paused once more, "Can you escort me till I find my friend?"

Sakura made a large inhale followed by a large exhale. She believed she made a good argument. She nailed down the reason. Now she needed a response.

He turned towards her with those same onyx eyes. So dark, so mysterious. (1) His expression didn't show any denial. Sakura's eyes lit up.

'_This is it!_' She cheered herself on, '_There's no way he can—_'

* * *

"**What the hell?"** Ino's voice shrieked as she viciously placed her hands on Sakura's neat uniform and shook like a stupid ragged doll. "**What the fuck were you thinking? Never in a billion years would I ever let you walk into a room with a stranger occupying it! Especially a male stranger!**"

The next morning was an eventful to say the least. Sakura finished her daily chores of refreshing the rooms. Hinata took charge of being a friendly hostess on the front desk. And Ino was the screaming boss everyone knew and loved.

Hinata stood from her seat and tried to relieve her friend from beating the crap out on another. Thankfully, Ino released her grip as Sakura settled back onto her seat.

"You don't need to get all testy," Sakura scoffed as she shifted to fidgeting to her fingers with a tiny voice saying, "He said no anyway."

Hinata and Ino stopped their actions and turned her heads towards Sakura, who was just fixed up some papers. Sakura's eyes didn't show any distinct feeling about it. That was something both Ino and Hinata thought was a trait Sakura poorly possessed. After a second of silence, they faced each other.

"Sakura-chan?" Hinata finally spoke.

Sakura abruptly turned her head towards Hinata with a shocked look upon seeing her concerned face. She turned Ino who had the same reaction. "Aw, com'on guys. It's nothing to worry about. I'll get my chance," Sakura smiled, "eventually."

"If you want, you can go out for a walk. You've been too cooped up in here anyway." Ino sighed knowing that Sakura wouldn't drop the act.

Sakura made a big sigh and she rested her hands on the table before. "Yeah, I guess I should." She stood up from behind the counter (front desk) and made her way towards the doors of the inn.

"**Sakura-chan!**" A loud yell had echoed from up the stairs.

The three girls quickly jolted their heads towards the stares as the rampaging Naruto. His tie was undone and hanging loosely on his neck. And his vest was missing. He kept running down the stairs trying to get to the lobby as quickly as possible. After some occasional trips due to missing some steps, Naruto grabbed hold of the banister and slid his way down. A few feet from the end, Naruto used his hands to push his body weight of the banister to jump up. Like a poised feline, Naruto landed on his feet and next to the three.

"**SAKURA-CHAN!**" He yelled once more.

"I'm right here in front of your face, you dolt." Sakura scoffed.

"Are-are you goi-going out?" He tried to say while managing to catch his breath.

Sakura raised her brow, "What did you do this time?"

"Nothing—!" Naruto retorted, "—bad…"

Sakura groaned, "Naruto…"

"**_Oi! Young man!_**" The group heard another voice from upstairs. It roared in such a harsh tone. What the heck? Was it a female?

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata responded hearing the female's voice.

"Please, Sakura-chan! Take me with you!" Naruto grabbed hold of Sakura's hands and placed it near his chest. "I promise I won't ask of you for anything else!"

"Umazaki! I demand to know what you did in my inn!" Ino placed her hands on her hips with a deathful glare at Naruto.

Naruto twitched after having the full glare take over his nerves. "Well, it was harmless—"

"—if you don't tell me what you did, I'll make you a missing nin!" Ino now cracked her knuckles.

"Okay, okay. _Maybe _I did something wrong—"

"—**Naruto!**" Ino and Sakura screamed.

"Okay," He raised his hands as surrender. "I was doing some of the bell-hopper services on the second floor. On my way downstairs, I saw a door open. I looked around me to see if anyone was around. So I took the liberty of going inside—"

"—**Moron!**" Ino pounded her fist into his thick skull. "You have no authorization to do that."

"Anyway," he continued, "I went in to see if anyone was occupying the place anyway. I wanted to let them know that he or she left the door open. But I suspected it was a woman. On a chair there was this bra that had huge—" Sakura gave another punch on his head, "Ah! What? I thought you were comfortable talking about those things."

"Not around you," Sakura scoffed.

"Can I finish the story with out getting interrupted? Or even hurt?" Naruto groaned. "So then a few moments later, a fat lady came into the room…

"_What are you doing in my room?" _Naruto mimicked her grungy voice.

"I was looking to see if anyone had occupied the room." Naruto said with his normal voice.

"_You shouldn't do that to a woman's room. It's very unattractive." _He mimicked once more.

"_But, ma'am, I—,"_

"_Is that my bra in your hands?" The woman asked. Naruto looked down at the garment he was holding. He quickly discarded it to a random spot, smiling with a little color in his cheeks._

"And you can sort of guess what happened next…" Naruto's voice trailed.

The three girls looked at him with disbelief. They casually sighed in the position that best suited their character.

"Geez, and I thought today couldn't get any weirder." Ino sighed.

"**_Young man!_**" The woman's voice was approaching now. Damn, it's already coming from the stairs. Sakura gaped in humility. This was the same woman that she had met yesterday with strict inn "conditions". It was even worse when she was going down the stairs with a semi-permeable nightgown with a bathrobe barely covering the parts everyone desired for it to be covered.

"Nope, I was wrong. Things just got weirder…"

"Ino, I'm taking Naruto with me." Sakura sighed trying to help her friend out.

"Then you'll need this," Ino exclaimed slipping a piece of paper with an envelope located next to Hinata. She closed it neatly before shoving it to Naruto's face. "Now off you go you to."

Ino turned the bodies of her employees before pushing them out of the door.

After a few brief moments of walking down the street, Sakura turned her face towards Naruto, who walked beside her. "Ne, Naruto? What did Ino give you?"

"Hmm?" Naruto focused his attention towards his hands that searched for the envelope that Ino had given him. "I forgot all about it." He roamed throughout his body to find the parchment. He searched the obvious places; his pockets, the space between his shirt and vest pocket. "Dammit, where did I put that envelope?"

"Naruto…" Sakura sighed.

Naruto's eyed Sakura's pointing index finger. He followed it where to his hand where he had held the envelope within his tight grasp. He scratched the back of his head with a small chuckle. "You have a good eye, Sakura-chan."

"Don't be stupid, Naruto." Sakura scoffed making Naruto's smirk disappear. "Now open it up!"

Curtly, Naruto tore the envelope open and saw the folded piece of paper. He unraveled the object. There in between the creases, he read aloud, "Milk, bread—what the?"

"Gimmie that!" Sakura growled snatching the parchment out of Naruto's hands. Sakura stared at the paper with a little twitch in her eyes.

"Oh-oh! Is it an important mission where we have to fight bad guys with mild? Or-or do we use the bread as a new genjutsu and—" Naruto spoke while doing some punching and kicking actions.

"—it's a grocery list." Sakura sighed. "Stupid Ino-pig…"

"What? I'm a skilled shinobi! I don't lower myself to do grocery shopping!" Naruto scoffed.

"Funny, this _Jounin_ refuses to grocery shop. But he is willing to scrub toilets and bell-boy while he's not in a mission." Sakura smirked.

Naruto stood silent. Sakura had the smirk for a good minute or two before continuing her way into the market district.

"You're very tricky, ya know?" Naruto said with a hint of annoyance. "**Man, I love you for that!**" He exclaimed as she ran up to catch up with her.

Sakura sighed with the tone that said _I-can't-believe-I-know-this-man_. She took a right turn and walked deeper onto another street. This area was filled with mothers and their children, bargainers, and their regular shoppers. Welcome to the shopping district of Konoha.

Sakura spent the remaining hour and a half buying what was needed on Ino's shopping list while somehow keeping an eye on Naruto.

"Naruto, don't touch that!" Sakura scolded seeing Naruto trying to take the instant ramen one woman was trying to sell. After the women heard the ramen-thief's name, she made a glare at the still-kid-at-heart. Naruto smiled sheepishly in return. Sakura gently patted her forehead in defeat to Naruto's yet-developed maturity. "It's like I'm still babysitting a four year old."

Recovering from her humility, something had caught Sakura's eye. "Naruto! I'm going to check on something. I'll be right back!" Sakura walked off as Naruto nodded slightly before getting a scolding from that woman about stealing from a shinobi at his level.

The last item on the list requested some candy for the front desk. Sakura saw the little treats out in the open. She couldn't help but smile a bit. '_I haven't eaten these things in a while_.' Sakura thought seeing the familiar product.

"Have you ever tried this?" The sales clerk asked seeing Sakura's face.

Sakura raised her head to look at the sales clerk. She pointed to one, "May I?" In response, the clerk nodded as Sakura took on into her mouth. She chewed the delectable taste swarming within her mouth. "Oishi…" Sakura smiled as she followed the remains.

"_Yo, Ojyou-san._" A voice said behind Sakura. Sakura froze. She heard this voice before. The owner of that voice moved her right side. She stared at him with wide eyes. '_The guy from yesterday?_' Sakura turned to the opposite side to escape. Apparently, he wasn't alone. The other drunk pervert stood before her. Before she could do anything, he grabbed her wrists and held them tightly.

"Going somewhere?" He asked. "Don't go. We're going to have a little fun." He finished with a low, sexual voice that made goose-bumps on Sakura's skin.

"Don't touch her," the clerk shouted seeing such violent behavior, "Or else I'm going to call the—"

The other man took a balled up fist and used the back of his hand to hit the clerk on his jaw. "Shut up."

"Don't you dare try anything funny." Sakura warned with her emerald eyes flaring. "I can hurt you in so many ways."

The man holding her writs laughed heartily. "You are truly something, Ojyou-san. It's a good thing I choose you." The two laughed once more as they began tying Sakura's wrists together behind her back.

"Chose me?" Sakura repeated with a vocal mixture of worry, fright, and a little curiosity.

"We wanna have some fun in Konoha before we go, now don't we?" He replied the last three words with a wink.

* * *

Naruto stood still hearing the middle-aged woman lecture him. Every time he had tried to escape, she pulled his ear to make him hold still.

"Young man, are you listening to me?" In response, Naruto nodded as if he could have cared less. "**Are you listening to me?**" She repeated with a louder tone.

"Listen," Naruto sighed, "I don't mean to be rude and all, but I have a life. I—"

Naruto paused mid-sentence (obviously). He saw something strange that had just flashed on the roof opposite from him. Being in Konoha, it was somewhat normal for people, shinobis to be exact, to be running on roofs. But what caught his eye was a stole-away these guys had with them.

A captive of pink hair with her arms tied. She was obviously knocked out due to the action of her lifeless struggle. She was carried over the shoulder of one man where as the other followed. "Sakura…?"

"Excuse me?"

"Watch my bags, obaa-chan." Naruto stated quickly without his eyes leaving the two. The lady gripped her fists , flared her eyes, and started to snarl.

"**Obaa-chan? _Obaa-chan?_**" She screamed as Naruto started to run and used his legs to create a huge jump from the ground as the dust started to part due to the great pressure. He continued to run and leap in hot pursuit.

One of the captors heard a strange _tuck-tuck-tuck-tuck _sound behind them. Trusting his ears, he made a small turn with his head to observe what the cause of the strange sound was. His eyes grew two sizes larger seeing a blonde guy chasing after them.

"Kouta!" He yelled, "We have a fan!"

The one named Kouta turned to see what his friend was talking about. He spotted Naruto running and jumping after them with a small flare in his blue eyes. "Shit…" Kouta cursed. "He's one of those guys from the inn!"

"What do we do?"

"_We? _You're gonna do something, Shinji!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" His partner, formally known as Shinji, exclaimed. "You run behind me with the girl on your shoulder!"

With all the yelling that had occurred, Sakura became slightly conscious. Her eyes fluttered open. She hung her eyelids down to cover her pupils from the glare of the sun. With the little strength she had, she raised her head and saw the familiar blonde guy she had known since they were little. He yelled her name once or twice to help her completely gain her consciousness. Her lips quietly parted, "Naruto…?" She quickly fell back asleep.

Shinji's, the one carrying her, ear pictured up the name Sakura called out. "Kouta! The guy running is the Naruto."

"Are you kidding me?" Kouta exclaimed with disbelief. "That shithead is one of the best shinobis of Konoha?" Kouta stopped abruptly on one roof. With the speed that they were going, Shinji almost ran past his comrade.

"What are you doing?"

"I wanna fight him."

"You wanna fight that crazy kid?"

"He's not acting a kid compared to the last time I've seen him (in the inn)." Kouta smirked cracking his knuckles. "I wanna see if I'm gonna win."

"Suit yourself." Shinji chuckled with a shrug. He turned to make his way.

"Hey, Shinji." Kouta sighed without facing him. Shinji glanced at him with a hint of curiosity. "When I catch up wit 'cha, I wanna knock her out too." He said with a deeper meaning to the words _knock her out_.

Shinji sweatdropped with an unrelieved face. "You sure are cocky, aren't ya, old man?"

Kouta laughed, "I'm only five years older than you, Shinji. No need to call me old."

"Whatever you say," Shinji laughed it off. Before leaving, he said, "What you said before, that was wrong, even for you, _old man_." Shinji finished before creating a flash step where he left instantly.

Kouta shook his head. "Stupid kid." He placed his hands on his sides and waited shortly for Naruto to catch up to him.

Naruto stood one house away from Kouta with a gripped hand. Neither of them spoke. The soft breeze of the wind, along with rustled up leaves, swept past Kouta's black hair and his attired. It came to a pasting end as Naruto's blonde locks felt its presence.

"Are you that shinobi Naruto?"

Naruto didn't immediately answer. He paused before showing his trademark smirk. "Why do you wanna know? Does it strike fear in your soul?"

"Not really," Kouta replied with a soft chuckle to end it.

"You," Naruto started this time. "Why did you and your pal get Sakura-chan?"

"Sakura, eh?" Kouta smiled. "That's her name. That Ojyou-san…such a pretty name for a pretty girl—"

"—You didn't answer my question. Why did you take her?"

"Isn't obvious?" Kouta laughed. "Last night, my friend and I didn't get to finish our little fun with her."

Naruto's pupil's shrunk to a smaller radius realizing what he had meant. Naruto gnawed his teeth. He loosened his tie to breathe easier. He began to roll his sleeves on both arms. Leaning forward, Naruto used his feet to create a spring-like force to help gain his speed so that he may go right passed Kouta. Strangely enough, it almost worked. Almost in an instant, Kouta turned to the side that Naruto was about to pass him with. With his arm quickly raised, Kouta used his elbow to cancel the force of Naruto's to crash unto the surface of the roof.

"Com'on, kind. You gotta do better than that." Kouta laughed moving to the side to see Naruto's face.

Naruto's fists were separated and balled. He raised his head with a bit of a shaking movement. Kouta clearly saw the blood that ran on the corner of his mouth. But what caught him the most was that strange fire in his opponent's blue eyes; a strange fire-like desire to fight within blue eyes that were similar to the ocean. Truly, he was worth the fight.

"Trust me," Naruto chuckled raising his body from the surface of the roof. "I can do **a lot** better than that." With the emphasis on a lot, a red glow appeared within his eyes to signal the flare of the demon within.

* * *

Shinji was now a safe distance away from the two. He could no longer feel that similar pressure. He stopped on a branch of a tree almost ten miles away from the border of Konoha. He planted Sakura where body of the tree and the base of the thick branch met. He made her stay at a position where he could see her face.

It must have been something about the temperature or where they were, but Shinji saw her in a new light. The idealistic, porcelain skin of Sakura was concealed nicely but the best mixture of the sunshine and the shade of the tree. Her hair wasn't that bright shade of pink. It was now that soft pastel color where it made his insides soft. It was also a plus where that small gust of wind moved the strands of her hair brought it out a sense of serenity. With her eyelids closed lightly, her lips slightly parted, and her chest levitating to the rhythm of her breathing, he didn't want to open her bare and have his way with her, as tempting as the idea was to him, especially with her uniform on. He felt that sudden urge to take her way. He wanted her to leave Kouta, that blonde guy, and even…that guy…

Shinji saw a couple of strands of her hair cover her face. He reached out to her face and traced the tips of his index and middle finger to guide the strands behind her hair. He then became compelled to touch her face. He did. It was warm. A good majority of his head was spread across her cheek.

The warmth, those lips…

He felt that desire. With his hand still on her cheek, he approached her. Shinji closed his eyes to await the arrival of Sakura's lips upon his.

"_Do you get the same pleasure even if she was unconscious?_"

Shinji stopped abruptly. He raised his head to feel a strange pressure behind him. Shinji made a small smirk. "So we meet again?"

"Get your hand off of her." He said with the same serious tone.

"I dunno. I kinda like touching her." He said with a smile.

Sasuke twitched hearing such a flamboyant remark. Sasuke swiftly raised his leg in order to attempt to swing his leg to at least get him away from Sakura. Shinji, instead, leaned his body to the side and rolled under the branch. Thus, it left a swift breeze on Sakura's face.

'_So he does have chakra control._' Sasuke examined. He moved his body the same way and meet Shinji on the other side upside down. Shinji was still on his crouching position but facing Sasuke this time.

Shinji eyed Sasuke as he crossed his arms. Shinji smiled, "You know, you shouldn't have done that. You might have left a mark on the dear girl's face." He finished with a mocking tone.

"All you wanted was something crash your body into. Why would it matter to you that she'd get hurt?" Sasuke started to get aggravated because of the fact that there was more talk instead of action.

"Because," he started with a small grin. Then Shinji's eyes started to narrow, "I want her to be flawless when I claim her."

Another flamboyant remark. Sasuke reached to his side and reached for his shuriken. With two in his hand he made two arm movements as the shuriken started to fly. Shinji was able to dodge the first one. The second wasn't two lucky. Using his legs, he pushed himself to the wall not so far from the tree. The second shuriken however took a piece of him before he was able to do so.

Shinji planted his feet on the sturdy platform of the wall. He felt a little sting on his left arm. Shinji looked at the area. His shirt was slightly torn he saw a little trickle of blood running down. "Aww," he pouted, "And this was my good shirt." Shinji turned back to Sasuke who took the liberty of moving from the tree to the wall standing opposite from him.

"You're good." Shinji commented with a smile. "Are you another shinobi of Konoha?"

"I don't need a permanent home to be called a shinobi."

"Ohh, I see, I see…" Shinji smiled again. "You're wondering, I suppose." Shinji sighed before making a serious tone but with that smile of his. "But tell me, then. What is your name? And more importantly… why is _she _important to you?"

"On two conditions," Sasuke replied. "One: if you can leave a scratch on me twice, I'll answer both of your questions. Two: if I were to get those two scratches, kill me there."

"My, my…such harsh conditions," Shinji sighed.

"What can I say? I have my reasons. But if you think I'm fast with my shuriken," Sasuke smirked positioning a kunai on his hands. "Wait 'ill you see me with my kunai."

Shinji laughed heartily positioning his kunai within the grasps of his hands. "Can't wait."

The battle had begun. The two used their quick footwork to create a brilliant fight.

Shinji once jumped for an aerial attack. With the kunai on his left hand, he landed to pursue giving a slice of Sasuke's right cheek. Sasuke dodge the attack by moving back one step and catching his wrist with his own left hand. Shinji grunted and used his right leg to create another attack. Sasuke quickly used his right hand to hold onto his heel. Before Sasuke could smile he noticed a small curve on the corner of Shinji's mouth. Shinji used his free leg to jump up thanks to Sasuke holding his arm and leg as a support. Shinji placed his foot on Sasuke's chest and thrust to create a force where Sasuke had no choice but fall back. Before Sasuke had fallen, Sasuke released his grip on Shinji's arm and leg. In return, Shinji rotated his kunai to use it as a blade to create a thin line on Sasuke's cheek.

Sasuke fell back as Shinji made a back flip with his feet landing perfectly on the ground.

Sasuke felt the sting on his cheek. He grunted as Shinji created that smile again. "Name?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and he stood on his two feet, "Uchiha, Uchiha Sasuke."

"Ah.. You're that Uchiha. You're _the_ last surviving Uchiha left in this word."

"Not entirely." With a forcefully grunt Sasuke dashed toward him with his kunai as his offense and Shinji's kunai as defense.

"Tell me, Sasuke." Shinji grinned, "Why not use those Sharingan eyes I've heard about so much?"

Sasuke chuckled, "Gomen, I only use it on worthy opponents." With another force, he released the equilibrium between their kunais and used his leg to kick Shinji on his ribcage to send him flying away from the wall. "And you're not worth copying."

Sasuke walked to where Shinji had landed. He bent down and grabbed his collar and stood up causing a choking action on Shinji's part. Shinji grasped Sasuke's arm trying to persuade him release. "You did want to know, right? To know why I care about the girl so much?" He pulled him closer.

"Two reasons. One: I might need her for complete my goal, and two:" He said with a narrowed look in his eyes. He leaned into his ear. He whispered, "She's not good enough for you." He threw Shinji once more. This time he hit his back on the tree trunk that Sakura had stayed for the remaining time.

In result of Shinji's hit, Sakura started to lean her body towards one side more than the other. The control of gravity took over. Sasuke luckily saw this. He jumped to light catch her mid-air. He landed softly to reduce any damage to her still unconscious self.

He aw the same features Shinji had seen earlier. He realized that this…_feeling_…was a bit hard to control. Sasuke noticed the length of the skirt of her uniform. He couldn't help but have a small tint of red rush through his cheeks. He tried to avert his gaze on something else. But the more he tried, the closer she became, along the increasing volume of his quick heartbeats.

"_Sakura-chan!_"

Sasuke turned to see Naruto walking up while dragging the unconscious Kouta with him. Naruto's face made a small sound that noticed Sasuke's existence…and Sakura in his arms.

"You!" Naruto gapped.

"Dobe," Sasuke snared.

"What are you doing to Sakura-chan?" Naruto demanded with a hint of threatening him.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Sasuke said with a hint of irritation. When he had a better grasp of Sakura, he felt that her hands were tied behind her back. Naruto must have misinterpreted. Sasuke thought he looked stupid enough to think that way anyway. Sasuke took the liberty to kneel down and laid Sakura's bottom on the ground and her back leaned in an angle with her upper back leaning on Sasuke's knee. He took his kunai and sliced the thick fabric they used. He took her limp wrists that felt onto the ground and started rubbing it.

"Wha-what's with all the yelling?" Kouta felt the need to become conscious of what was occurring.

Seeing Sasuke still rubbing her wrist became another sign for Naruto to interrupt. "O-oi! What the hell do you think you're doing?" He dropped Kouta, thus answering his question, knock him out again.

Naruto knelt down close to them and eyed Sasuke's actions. Sasuke quickly got annoyed to the fact that Naruto was practically breathing down his neck. "You want something, dobe?"

"What the hell are you doing to Sakura-chan?"

"Two words, dobe, rope—burn." He said continuing to rub as the red marks on her wrists started to disappear. Sasuke brought her up into his arms bridal style which got Naruto ticked off again.

"Now where do you think you're going?" Naruto scoffed with his arms crossed as he blocked the path Sasuke was facing.

"I'm going to bring her back to the inn. She's been through enough today." Sasuke said in a monotone.

"Nah-ah! No way! You're not taking her anywhere. _I_ should be the one doing that! I'm one of her close friends!"

"What about those two?" Sasuke gestured to Shinji and Kouta. "It'd be strange for a stranger such as me to report these felons to the Hokage instead of a shinobi of proper ranking such as yourself." He finished with a small smirk.

Naruto gasped a bit while holding his breath as he realized he was right. He lowered his hands and scoffed. He turned the opposite and said, "Fine, go! But you have to get the grocery from this old lady about 150 kilometers from here."

"I already have." Sasuke finished with a small laugh. Before Naruto could turn to protest, what was left of Sasuke and Sakura had disappeared. Naruto scratched the back of head in utter confusion.

"Who or what the hell is he?" He said aloud to no one in particular. He let go the idea of having to figure out the mystery of Sasuke. "Now," he sighed, "How feels like talking to Obaa-chan?" He asked jokingly as he picked up the two who were still unconscious.

* * *

Sasuke walked through doors on the inn. The first to notice his appearance was Hinata who was just organizing paperwork. She saw the expressionless Sasuke walk in and looked frantically for one slip of paper.

"Ah, ah, Uchiha-kun!" Hinata called as he turned to see her. "Someone came—" She paused momentarily to see Sakura in his arms, "—Wha-what happened? Is she alright?" Hinata asked as she began to stroke Sakura's hair out of worry.

"She's alright. Nothing bad happened to her." He said casually.

"Where is Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked noticing the blonde not around them.

"You mean 'dobe'?" Hinata raised her head to meet his eyes with slight confusion.

"The blonde one with her?" Hinata nodded slightly. "He's okay. He'll be back in a couple of hours." Hinata nodded again. Sasuke quickly got annoyed. He hated when people, females especially, look at him in such a way. "Can I put her somewhere?"

"Oh! Hai!" She quickly left to get the room keys while leaving a note saying that the clerk would be right back.

She ran past Sasuke to lead him upstairs where Sakura's room was.

After a satisfying click of the door lock, Hinata opened the door for Sasuke who walked into her room first. The room was quaint. It was obvious that someone could live here quietly but lacked having that homey feel. The room was small and had the default features that every other room in the inn had. Yet, it seemed a little more personal. Maybe it's because it was Sakura's room and not a guest's.

Hinata closed the door behind them. She walked quickly before Sasuke to lead him to her bed. She removed the comforter and the layers of blanks that were to follow. Sasuke gently laid Sakura down as Hinata covered her to keep a type of warmth around her. She then moved some stray strands of her hair.

Sasuke stood silent watching Hinata care for her friend. After a few moments he shook his head realizing what he was doing. He turned a full one-eighty to walk towards the door.

Hinata heard his footsteps departing. She turned abruptly and said, "Matte!" Sasuke stopped in his tracks but dared not to look at Hinata. "Onegei…stay with Sakura for a little while longer."

This favor caught Sasuke off guard. He turned to face Hinata with a raised brow. "Nani?"

"Stay…" Hinata paused before turning to her friend, "with Sakura…" Hinata turned to Sasuke again, "Please watch over her! I don't want anything bad to happen to her. So much has happened to her that she doesn't deserve this. She doesn't…"

Sasuke didn't say a word. He just eyed Hinata who look solemnly at Sakura.

* * *

It was mid afternoon. The sun had started to set down to reveal warm sun-like colors of orange, red, and yellow with a smidge of purple. The colors seemed appropriate today for some reason or another.

Sasuke turned away from the window and sat on the chair closest to the bed. He watched Sakura as her chest levitate and sink. He started to look at her at a different light.

"_Her parents are gone. A good portion of her life died along with them." Hinata sighed as she placed the tray with their afternoon tea and some treats. She poured Sasuke a cup and handed the ceramic holder onto Sasuke's hands. _

_After taking one cup to herself, Hinata took a seat on Sakura's bed. She quietly blew the growing fog away from the top of the liquid and slurped the warm liquid down her throat._

"_Then my cousin, Neji, came into the picture. He gave a type of happiness that no one could give her. Not Ino, not myself, or even Naruto who was probably the closest one to her at the time."_

"The closest one to her at the time, eh?" Sasuke thought a loud still watching Sakura. He allowed his back to completely rest on the chair as he crossed his arms.

_He was in a mission a year ago and has never returned. I need someone to accompany me during my journey, in search for him._

'_Is he really that important to you?_' Sasuke sighed while eying Sakura again.

This time, her eyes flinched. This quick movement sent little chills up Sasuke's nerves. Sakura batted her eyes to let small rays of the light source shine. She was able to fully open her eyes as she made a small yawn. She noticed something on the corner of her eye. "U-Uchiha-kun?" She quickly jolted from her bed

Sasuke stood up and headed towards the door.

"Uchiha-kun—!"

"—it's nice," He cut her in. "…to see that… you are okay." He said with minor pauses as he continued to exit out of her room. .

Sakura heard the door close shut. She looked down onto her covers and gripped them. He did this? He stayed here till she gained consciousness? She narrowed her eyes in finalizing what she had to do. "There's no turning back now."

* * *

In the lobby, Ino made another lecture to Hinata. Hinata sat there listening to Ino's words of advice. Naruto came into the scene with the little club of kids following him. They endlessly asked him for him to teach them to do simple jutsu. Evidently, Naruto gave up.

"So, you wanna know how to make a good jutsu?" Naruto smirked seeing that the bunch of kids applauding and cheering. "Now, watch closely." He stated as he positioned to start the jutsu. Ino and Hinata concentrated on the animal signs Naruto was doing. When they realized what combination he was doing, Ino and Hinata's eyes grew fifteen times bigger. "**Oiroke no ju—**"

**WHAM!**

Ino took any discarded collection of paper and rolled it up to create a bat. She then took the liberty of whacking him with it.

"**Naruto no baka!**" She scolded. "Don't teach these children such a vile jutsu!"

"It's not bad, it a basic genjutsu (2)! Both shinobi and kunoichi need to master them in order to be a great shinobi in Konoha!"

"But not taught by you! I don't want the future leaders Konoha poisoned by your antics!"

The doors of the inn opened. Naruto and Ino momentarily paused on their argument to see who had come through the door.

"Fuzzy brows!" The kids cheered seeing Rock Lee smiling again.

"Ey, Fuzzy brows!" Naruto greeted Lee with his usual taunting voice. "What made you come here?"

"Sa-Sakura-san." He said with a hint of concern. "I have heard from some of the villagers that she was about to be abducted by some shinobis. I was hoping to see if she was okay." He gripped the bundle of daffodils he had with him. Ino eyed the bundle. Obviously, it came from the floral branching part of the inn. She remembered when Sakura's friends returned from their missions, she would visit them with a fresh daffodil.

An increasing volume of footsteps came. All heads turned to Sasuke as he entered the lobby. He stopped his tracks to see the eyes of a number of characters that had gathered in the room. He averted his gaze to show that he cared less of their existence. He tried to walk past them to walk towards the bar part of the inn.

Surprisingly enough, Sakura had followed him. "U-Uchiha-kun!"

"Uchiha?" Lee paused momentarily. The hand that once gripped the daffodils release causing the soft bunch fall onto the ground. Lee extended his arm out to Sasuke.

Sasuke glared at Lee's arm. He turned to face him. "What the hell you want? I want a drink."

"You're an Uchiha…"

"Is there a problem with my name?"

"You were part of that powerful clan, weren't you?" Lee interrogated. By this moment in time, Sakura had caught up with them. Her footsteps came to a decreasing end as she heard Lee ask him these questions. She had wanted to stop Lee from asking such questions, but she didn't. She had that personal desire to know more about the shinobi that saved her.

"What if I am? Are you gonna kill me because of that, Fuzzy?" Sasuke mocked.

"Iie… it's not that." Lee stated.

"Then move." Sasuke moved Lee's arm to permit him to pass. Feeling a little humiliated, Lee took hold of Sasuke's dark clothing.

"I…I also heard…" Lee was getting nervous at this point. He could see this glare he was receiving from Sasuke. If there were any glaring contests, all the other opponents would drop out after being seen by him. The sight made it obvious that Sasuke was getting angrier. "…you…you saved Sakura-san!"

Sasuke made no reaction. He made a small smirk that seemed to curl on his lips. "Does that bother you? That I have saved the Hime-sama (3) you have longed for?"

…_His piercing, red eyes…_

"Yamero (4)!" Sakura pleaded. "There's nothing to fight about, Lee-kun. Uchiha-kun just helped me with some bad guys who tried to take advantage of me."

"That's right. Sakura just asked Sasuke-kun if he could escort her in her search for Hyuuga-kun." Ino said absently mindedly. But after hearing several gasps in the room, Ino realized her mistake. She quickly covered her mouth. "Oh dear…"

"I think Sakura meant on thanking Sasuke. And I believe the part about escort was meant for us to keep that as a secret." Hinata whispered.

Seeing everyone's reaction, especially Lee's, Sakura lowered her gaze. "Minna…"

"Sakura-san asked _you _to escort her throughout the countries? Is it because you're a _nomad_ experience?"

…_His piercing, red eyes soon faded into black…_

"Lee-kun, yamero!"

"If you really want to take Sakura-chan with you, you have to defeat me in a battle!"

Sakura widened her eyes. She knew how surprisingly strong Sasuke was. She didn't want to see anyone hurt, especially Lee. "Lee-kun!" Sakura pleaded as she walked towards Lee. "Yamero, Lee-kun. I know you mean well. I should have asked you first. There's no point to fight! He said no anyway—"

"That doesn't matter now, Sakura-san." Lee said sternly as he kept his glance at Sasuke. "It's a matter of pride." Sakura lowered he head in defeat. "But you must promise me this," Sakura raised her head to face Lee, who now had a hint of confidence in his smile, "if I win, promise me that I'll go with you to search for my former teammate."

Sakura lowered her head again. She couldn't have given him a response to that. Lee was important to her, but she promised herself to Neji. How could she…?

Lee released his grip on Sasuke. Yet, strangely enough, Sasuke didn't move towards the bar like he said he would. He was now interested in this _brawl_.

Lee sense Sasuke's anticipation. It was this type of aura he was giving. It must have. They smirked at each other with a nod afterwards.

Naruto felt that tension. His fox-like sense made his body twitch a bit. HE knew what was going to happen. He yelled, "Minna! Get down!" In a strain of panic, everyone was at a loss of words that was going on. After a mere blink, the Lee and Sasuke had disappeared. Sakura's eyes widened.

_What the…?_

Then the doors of the inn suddenly busted open with such strong gusts of wind. The wind became so powerful that those who did not duck were trying so hard to become gravity's friend.

Sakura was on her knees trying to duck her head as low as she could with the help of her arms. Ino took charge of taking some of the kids. She yelled at them to stay down as she used her body to keep them low. Together, Naruto and Hinata did the same for the remainder of the children.

As the wind started to die down, everyone released their arms from their heads and took a good look at their surroundings. Papers were flying. Broken pieces of various objects were on the ground. What the hell just happened?

"Minna… daijoubu desu?" Ino took the liberty of ask first. After hearing good confirmations from everyone else, she turned to Sakura who had her head still facing where Sasuke and Lee were last. "Daijoubu?"

"Where are they?" Sakura asked immediately.

"How the hell am I supposed to know?"

"No, Ino. I'm serious. Where are they?" Sakura said with the uttermost straight face. "That man…Uchiha Sasuke, he has a very strong skills. He even has…" Sakura paused to think what that ability Uchihas' possessed.

"Sakura…" Ino pouted. "Well… judging by the door's condition…" They took a moment to look at the door, which was now broken and disheveled, "they're out."

"You're really observant, Ino-pig…" Sakura complimented in a sarcastic tone.

Naruto comforted Hinata in her injuries. Then he stood and walked towards the door.

"Naruto!" Sakura called hoping that Naruto would turn around. Luckily he did. "You're going to go after them, ne?"

"Well, I have to." Naruto said blankly as he scratched the nape of his neck, "Otherwise, I would get yelled at Tsunade-obaachan." He finished with his goofy grin. He walked casually outside.

At this point in time, the sun had completely set. It was a lavish blue evening where the moon beam caste its light on the able seeing surfaces of Konoha.

"Chouto Matte!" Sakura exclaimed trying to get up to run after Naruto.

Naruto stopped and awaited Sakura's arrival on the street. "Na, Sakura-chan?"

"Are you going after them?"

"If you mean Fuzzy Brows and that punk, then yeah…" Naruto said with a shrug. He then turned his body to maneuver his left arm to his waist as the other scratched the nape of his neck. "Personally, I wouldn't careless what that punk does, but if Tsunade-obaachan finds out what one of her elite nins are doing and _I _knew about it, she won't be a happy Hokage."

Sakura sighed. "I'm going with you."

Ino and Naruto replied with an 'Eh?'. Their eyes were bugged out. Also, their mouths gaped.

"Are you serious?" Ino asked as an added response.

"We don't have time. Uchiha Sasuke isn't a normal shinobi. He was part of that Uchiha clan. Lee-kun might…" Sakura chook her head to erase such thoughts, "**We have to hurry**!"

A moment of silence followed till Naruto slammed his fist onto the palm of his other hand. "Yosh! Let's do it!" Naruto turned around and squat down. Ino and Sakura had the same raised brow look questionable to Naruto's actions.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" Ino sweatdropped.

Naruto turned his head to face Sakura and Ino. "It's faster to travel through the roofs rather than running. We don't waste as much energy."

"And reason for doing that is…?" Sakura smacked the side of her head symbolizing the ignorance of Naruto.

"Sakura can't jump high enough…" Seeing more of the _what-the-hell-are-you-talking-about_ looks, he paused then followed by, "right…?"

"Naruto," Ino sighed, "Since Neji had disappeared, and Sakura has been training under the Hokage—"

"—**eh?**" Naruto jumped after hearing those words. "Sa-Sakura-chan has been training with Tsunade-obaachan? How come I never knew?"

"Maybe it was because you were either off in too many missions or trying to get training from that pervert, Jiraiya." Sakura sighed.

"Well, go on already!" Ino pushed the two friends forward. "You wanna catch up with them don't you?"

"Ano… Sakura-chan…" Naruto tried to state while trying to avoid getting a death glare from Ino. In a small panic, Naruto indicated Sakura's attire. Both Sakura and Ino's eyes averted to Sakura's uniform which she was wearing the whole day.

"You're going first." Sakura said bluntly as Naruto made the first leap. Sakura followed as Ino waved goodbye to the two of them.

Upon meeting Naruto on the roof, Sakura turned her face to see Naruto. Well…mostly his reaction to seeing his friend now able to do shinobi-like tasks with him. Okay… he might have not reacted to Sakura's skills but rather her uniform. "Naruto," Sakura called as she pointed forward, "no funny business…" She caught him. I mean, after all, he _did _have confessed his feelings to her once…twice… okay, a number of times.

* * *

Naruto stopped their search abruptly. He stopped on one roof and crouched down to where his arms leaned on his knee caps. As Sakura came close, Naruto raised his arm to signal her to stop. Sakura did as asked but still approached him closer.

Naruto softly closed his eyes. He seemed to be concentrating. She saw Naruto's ear twitching. He was picking up sounds?

_Clink-Clank_

I mean it was possible.

_Shhhhh-slink!_

After all…

_Clink-shhhhh-slink-clink!_

He _was _weird.

Naruto opened his eyes abruptly causing Sakura to jump back a bit. Before she could call to him, Naruto cried, "They're there!" He raced Sakura who ran in order to catch up with them.

* * *

_The kunai's noises grew in volume. There Sakura saw Lee fighting off Sasuke with simply taijutsu. God, was he stupid? It was also obvious that Lee wasn't winning at this point._

_Lee had scratches on his face. On the corner of his mouth, blood ran a visible line. His usual attire started to tear. Whereas Sasuke only had a mire line across his cheek. And it was possible that it was the one from Shinji. Then Sakura recognized something about Sasuke that she and during their first encounter: those red eyes._

'What the hell are they…?_' Sakura questioned. _

_Sasuke jumped high again. His body became a silhouette against the light of the moon. '_He's going for an aerial attack?_' Sakura eyed Lee who was now too weak in the legs to even dodge this incoming attack. Her gaze flew back to Sasuke._

_Sasuke spun his kunai around his index finger until it fitted comfortably on his grip. '_Crap!_'_

"_Yamero!" Sakura yelled running towards the two._

"_Sakura!" Naruto yelled for her to stop._

_Running before Lee, Sakura held her position to make a defensive stance. Lee, with one half-eye open, raised his head to see the pink-haired kunoichi. He could not even say her name at this point after noticing her unnoticeable speed._

_Sasuke made a short gasp seeing Sakura make a sudden attempt on covering Lee. His eyes widened. '_What is she doing?_' Sasuke grunted in his head. Dark clouds started to follow. It had covered the area. Strangely enough, those noticeable crimson eyes faded again._

_**CLANK!**_

_Kunais met. Sparks flew. Glares followed. Sakura narrowed her eyes having Sasuke only doing the same. She couldn't see that small smirk that curled on the base of his mouth._

_The only person that caught this was Naruto._

Sakura solemnly looked outside the window. Stars… they always seemed like that impossible desire that anyone was unable to touch. Automatically, one thing came to Sakura's mind…

_Sakura released some of her chakra to cause Sasuke to fall back slightly. Sakura glared at him again. Strange enough, those dark clouds started to clear, the faint glow of the moon appeared again. Before she helped Lee, Sakura hallucinated. The faint glow made that illusion of Sasuke's eyes turned silver, pure silver like… like…_

"_Neji…?"_

A small knock came at the door. Sakura turned to the object. Sakura shook her head. '_Dame… He's…he's not him. Neji cares about me. He…_' Her thoughts traveled. She glanced at the clock. It read **23:43 ** in bright crimson lights. '_It's late_…' She thought. '_Who would want to see her?_' Sakura mused as she advanced towards the door.

'**_It's probably Ino_**…' Her inner voice made her opinion. '**_She probably wants us to do some early morning shift or some crap like that_**.'

Sakura, at this point, couldn't help but agree. Though, she had to admit herself, it was rather strange that Ino would inform her that late at night. Normally she would bust the door open six AM sharp with an alarm.

Another knock proceeded. "I'm coming…" Sakura voiced taking her sweet time. Another knock was made to her annoyance. Sakura couldn't help but grip her fists. She violent opened the door, "I said I was—"

…but stopped mid-sentence. Sasuke raised his brow at her. She was shocked no doubt.

"That's how you treat all your visitors?" He asked in a quiet voice.

Sakura tried to hide her embarrassment. "…you surprised me."

Sasuke tried to avoid staring at her. It was obvious. His eyes averted in every direction except towards Sakura.

"Was there something you want?" Sakura asked in curiosity. "Otherwise, you wouldn't have come here."

Did he just gulp? "I have of important business to discuss with you." He tried to cough it out in the last three words.

Sakura felt her throat dry up. She felt her knees growing weak. It was obvious that this _business _wasn't just asking-door-to-door type of business.

* * *

"**Na-nani?**" Ino screamed.

"Don't make it sound as weird as it already is." Sakura pouted with a glare. Sakura turned at her heel towards the chest where the rest of her clothing was hidden.

"Demo…Sakura-chan," Hinata added, "What you're doing, isn't it dangerous?"

"I know," Sakura sighed stuffing the remaining linens in the bag. "That's why I have Sasuke-kun to protect me."

"What we're now calling him on a first name basis now?" Ino crossed her arms with a tone of annoyance.

"I don't understand why you're against this—"

"—because you asked a complete stranger to protect you!" Ino responded cutting her sentence. "You've seen what happened when men have that…_urge_."

"Well, he's different." Sakura stuck her tongue out at Ino. Her friends sighed as a moment of silence passed by.

"When are you leaving?" Ino asked.

"Around three," Sakura responded as Hinata and Ino's eyes faced the clock. Ten o'clock…

"Did you tell everyone?" Hinata voice rang.

"Everyone except Lee and Naruto," Sakura finished packing some medical supplies. She paused momentarily before completely closing the package. She tried to hide a liquid penetrating her eyes. "They…they would be the ones that might take it the hardest."

Ino and Hinata stayed quiet.

--

Throughout the day, Sakura had said her goodbyes and see-you-soons. Time had come where Hinata and Ino wanted to spend their late moments together for a long time.

They had exchanged hugs and good luck wishes.

"I don't understand," Ino smiled trying to hide her tears. "I've seen you go with ANBU in missions before. And now…" She snorted, "I'm acting like I'm never going to see you again."

"Shut up, Ino-pig." Sakura joked going her friend another deep hug.

"Right back at 'cha, forehead girl," Ino cried.

Sakura waved to her friends as she started to depart towards the gate of Konoha.

* * *

Sakura arrived at the gate to see Sasuke standing casually with his hands in his pockets.

"I've packed only the essentials, just like you said." Sakura chirped.

"Hn," Sasuke responded. "Ready?"

Sakura turned to see Konoha one more time. _I'll be back._ Sakura turned towards Sasuke again and nodded to signal yes. They advanced several steps away from the gate.

"Sakura-san!" Lee cried before she and Sasuke could depart from Konoha's gates. He puff and huffed trying to catch his breath. Sakura placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Lee-kun? What are you doing here?"

"Is it true that you're leaving?"

Sakura couldn't hide it, "I'm coming back." She reassured him with a smile. "I'm going to bring Neji back also."

"Hai… demo," Lee exhaled one last time before lifting his face to Sakura with a straight forward expression. "Sakura-san, may I ask you something of importance?" Sakura absent mindedly nodded. "If, and I mean _if_, you return without Neji-san…then…is it okay…if I…if I…"

He was sure taking his sweet time. This got Sasuke annoyed pretty quick. He rolled his eyes and faced the other direction with his arms crossed over his chest.

"… if I ask for your hand in marriage?" Lee blurted out. Sakura (and Sasuke) responded with a short gasp.

Sakura looked to the side to find an appropriate answer to give him. "I…I can't promise you a yes…" She said solemnly, "But I will take that into consideration."

Lee seemed to become teary again. He was too cute.

Sakura waved her dear friend goodbye. Sasuke and Sakura started their adventure into the real world.

Lee watched the two disappear deep into the road, past the trees, past the visibility of his eyes.

* * *

The day had passed quickly. The once shiny day was now cooling down into lower temperatures. Nighttime had come.

Lee walked into the Yamanaka-Nara Inn like he would normally would. Yet this time, it was like there wasn't a purpose to go there anymore. He turned to his side to see the cheery Hinata wave to him.

"Konbanwa!" Naruto cheered with a sheepish grin.

"You're extremely happy today, Naruto." Lee commented seeing such optimism.

"I sure am!" He cheered. "Those kids aren't bothering me tonight! It's movie night for them in the lounging area." He smiled brighter. "Now I more time to bother you guys and Sakura-chan!"

"Sakura-san?" Lee questioned. Naruto continued to smile as his head bobbed up and down. "Demo…she's not here."

Naruto's smiling face slowly faded as he noticed his pink-haired companion was no where in sight. "Eh? Where- where is she?"

"Ah, Naruto-kun," Hinata spoke with little courage as she played with her fingers as they teased each other. "She didn't want us to tell you. She left to look for Neji with Uchiha Sasuke."

"**Hheeh?**" Naruto responded with disbelief. "Nani? Hontou ni? Mou…" Naruto seemed upset, "Did she at least bring some instant ramen?"

"I don't think she did," Hinata said quietly again.

"Darn."

"Hinata! Lee! Naruto!" Ino called as she entered the area with a bundle of paper at hand. "I found something interesting about this Uchiha Sasuke."

* * *

"We'll stop here." Sasuke indicated as their hike came to a stop. Sasuke had landed on the ground with small sounds from the twigs and the dried leaves. However, Sakura's landing was quieter, more discreet. Sasuke smirked inwardly. This girl surprised him every time.

"Sakura," He called after Sakura guided her bag to the ground along. She turned with eagerness to listen what Sasuke had wanted to say next. "Look for wood for tonight's fire." Sasuke continued, "I'll get fish for tonight's dinner from the nearby river."

What was this? He was speaking like he normally would. So, why would Sakura would have to hide…a blush? "Ha-hai," Sakura turned quickly. She ran straight forward into forest to search for the wood (5). '_What the hell is going on with me?_'

Sasuke raised his brow at her sudden reaction. But he smirked inwardly. "She's too easy…"

"_Found something…?" Hinata repeated after Ino placed the stack of paper on the counter._

"_Un!" Ino smiled flipping towards one page and scrolled to one section. "Look at this."_

_Lee, Hinata, and Naruto joined their heads making a triangle over the section. _

"_Hmm…it says that the Uchiha clan was one of the strongest clans know. They were very prone to violence and had extreme pride in themselves. And… the whole clan has been massacred about 3 years ago." Hinata skimmed._

"_And it says here that the only surviving members of the clan were the two sons of Fukagu and Mikoto," Lee contributed._

" _Itachi… and Sasuke…" Naruto finished. The three heads raised and looked at each other in suspicion. "Ne, ne, Ino…" Naruto turned to Sakura's friend. "Does that mean Sakura might be in trouble?"_

_Ino was quiet. She shook her head to erase some disturbing thoughts in her head. "We don't have to worry about Sakura. After all, she's an apprentice to the Godaime!" Ino smiled._

Sakura finished setting up the fire. She smiled at herself. Now all she needed was that Goukakyuu no Jutsu (6). Sakura smiled brighter. She had been in missions before. But, none of them were because of her desire to go.

A twig snapped. Sakura turned sharply towards the sound. Sasuke stood with kunai in the bodies of fishes. He prepped these white meats by cleaning the scales off. He made another piece of wood and shaped it with his kunai to make it skewer-like. He placed them around the supposed area of the fire. He had done with without a word said.

Sakura at the meantime prepared the sleeping bags. She occasionally look at Sasuke. When he felt her gazes, she averted back on preparing the sleeping bags.

With hand seals, Sasuke made the Goukakyuu no Jutsu. The fiery emblem flared and danced. Sakura stood amazed at his talent. He was preoccupied and had not noticed Sasuke standing behind her.

In silence, Sasuke lightly placed his hands on her shoulders. Sakura jumped a bit feeling his touch on her sensitive skin. She felt his hands move her pink hair to the right side of her head. He then placed soft lips on her nape. She shivered. Sakura turned slowly to Sasuke and whispered his name in confusion.

He replied by repeating her name in a soft tone, almost seductively. He went back to teasing her by leaving butterfly kisses on her nape traveling to her earlobe as his hands traveled down her arms. He whispered her name again in between.

She knew this was wrong, **very **wrong. She belonged to Neji! So, why didn't she fight back? Why didn't she fight? Why didn't…

Sakura felt like she was loosing conciseness again. If she had kept paying attention, she would have seen the hidden kunai Sasuke had pulled out.

'_Sasuke…kun?'_

* * *

(1)_ Geez, I make her sound almost cheesy.._  
(2) _Illusion Technique_  
(3) _Princess  
_(4) _Stop it!_  
(5) _I'm not stupid. Forest wood. But if you ever went on a **real** camping, (not at some pre-set camping area) there are certain types of wood that burns a lot better than others._  
(6) _Great Fireball Technique_

_Wow… look at all that. (looks at stats) Wow about 21 pages with size 10 font. I had thought of dividing this into two chapters, but I didn't want to stay in Konoha for too long. (sigh) Also, sorry if the last part was a bit—how should I say it—ranchy..? This is my first time using such description. (laughs)I actually wanted to put more scenes relating to that as the story progresses. Besides, there is a reason why this fic was rated the way it is rated._

_Hi all! Thanks for reading the second chapter. I fixed the first one because I didn't read it over last time. (sad face) I'm a total idiot. Please review so that I may actually know that I should continue. Hits are nice. But I wanna know if you're actually **reading **the damn thing, not just visiting it. _

_I usually am more willing to write the next chapter ASAP if I have more reviews. (raises eyebrows up and down). I hope I get at least another ten. (crosses fingers). For those who want me to update ASAP, please read bio._


	3. Moonlit Confessions

* * *

Chapter 3: _Moonlit Confessions_

* * *

'_What the hell is going on?_' Sakura felt his hand roam up her back. His light kisses seemed so gentle. So why did it seem like it was burning on her skin? Damn him for being so talented. 

Sakura was so caught up on the moment. The homemade fire's flames painted a color combination of red, orange, and yellow on her figure. It did an even better job on Sasuke's. His dark blue shirt didn't seem so invisible with the dark forest. His dark locks finally showed a hint of softness like someone she knew.

That's when Sakura's eyes opened wide, '_Neji-kun!_' Her thoughts finally swam back as did her self-control. "Ya-yamero!" She whimppered. Yet, Sasuke kept going by giving his tongue the contact on the skin of the base of her neck.

However, pushing this man off of her was almost impossible. His touch was gentle and his kiss, poisonous. The treatment that she was getting from him was too good to let go. As much as she had wanted for him to stop, she somehow begged for more.

The tightly gripped kunai in Sasuke's hand inched towards her back. Being so caught up with so many overwhelming emotions, Sakura could not even notice it. The tip of the tool started at the base of her shirt. Sasuke maneuvered it as it went up her spine slowly separating the fabric from its owner's skin.

That's when reality kicked in. The shirt was completely off of Sakura's body thus exposing her bandaged undergarments covering Sakura's mounds (1). After noticing how far he was going to take things, she tried to use her arms to cover herself.

"Oh no, you don't!" Sasuke roared grabbed her wrists into his hands. He ravished her neck once more but this time with a little more hunger. His sweet kisses turned into sucking and biting. Sakura winced at every action.

After a given time, she started to cry. Tears rolled down her cheeks as her arm started growing tired for resisting. '_I should have listened to Ino. I shouldn't have left Konoha. Neji-kun…_' she silently cried as her eyes rose to see the starry sky, '_gomen n__e. You know I'll do anything to find you. **Anything! **If this is my payment, so be it. Neji… forgive me__…_'

Little droplets fell on his shoulder. He knew that it wouldn't rain that night. Sasuke groaned. She's crying? She stopped resisting? What the fuck?

Sasuke released her by throwing her down to the ground. Sakura felt the ground on her back and gave Sasuke a look that said she was both grateful and confused. She was laid out there for him but he stopped? She took the liberty to scurry to cover herself. "Why did you stop resisting?" He asked. In reply, Sakura gave him a confused look at her tears continued to fall.

"You-you were—"

"**What the fuck is wrong with you?**" He roared seeing Sakura still whimpering. "**Why do you allow men to take advantage of you?**"

"You-you—"

"That fuzzy brow in the inn! Were you really going to marry him if you had returned empty handed?"

"That isn't—"

"Are you willing to give up your body just to find this guy?"

Sakura's gaze moved to the ground. She felt dirty. _Willing to give up her body?_ Was she willing to go that low just to have her one-and-only back?

Seeing Sakura's discomfort, Sasuke sighed as he turned the opposite way and set his up his tent. Without looking at her, he solved the dispute perfectly, "Tomorrow, I'll bring you back to Konoha."

Sakura's ear's perked up. What did he just say? "—de-demo—!"

"It's not up for discussion!" Sasuke hissed, seemingly somewhat annoyed. Still not looking at her, he continued, "If you were willing to completely give up your purity in mercy to a stranger, then you are not ready to travel with me." He said it straight to the point.

As he continued to set up his camp, he said, "I am a wanderer. I don't have time to watch over you like a goddamn babysitter. I am assuming that you can take care of yourself. After all, you interrupted my fight with fuzzy brow. I'm just doing this because you are just tagging along, which I find very annoying by the way."

Sakura found that she had nothing to say. She believed that if this wasn't the way to find Neji, nothing would be. She quickly retreated into her covers, without a peep. So that was the plan… she was to go back to Konoha the following day.

* * *

As soon that he knew that she fell asleep, Sasuke let out a big sigh. '_What the hell is wrong with you?_' He had asked himself. His arms cradled his head keeping a fixed stare at the sky. He knew what he did wrong. He might have scarred her for life. However, this was a point he had to express. Thinking about her made him think. What was the sreason why he allowed her to travel with him? Was it because he…? 

'_Don't be stupid_,' Sasuke mentally slapped herself. He shifted his body to the side. His head rested on his left arm with his right hanging out of his sleeping bag. He scoffed silently to himself before his gaze was fixed on pinky sleeping across from him. '_She is too weak to help. Goddamnit, didn't I tell you to stop being stupid?_'

Sasuke had to kick himself for that one. He was now talking to himself.

A slight crackle of the leaves rang within Sasuke's ears. He felt his body twitch a bit hearing the foreign sound. What the hell could be up at this time of the night? Well, besides nocturnal animals.

No animal was that size.

Sasuke smirked. There was going to be at least _some _action tonight.

* * *

Tsunade's eyebrow twitched for the third time tonight. Naruto, Shikamaru, and Ino stood before her. Only Naruto dared to have a small smile on his lips. But then again, we _are _talking about Naruto. 

"So let me get this straight," Tsunade started to break the silence, "are you telling me that there is a possibility that Sakura, one of my brightest apprentices, is traveling with one of the most wanted criminals known throughout the lands?"

"A-ano," Naruto sweatdropped as the remaining two remained silent, "Well, we don't know if he's _really _a criminal—"

"—you didn't even know this man is and you **_still _**let her go!" Tsunade scolded as she arisen from her desk along with a loud, thunderous _bam _on her desk. In response, the three jumped out of shock. It was obvious enough that the teacher had a strong attachment to the student, but who knew that she'd react this way?

"Well, when you put it like that, it does seem like a really bad idea." Naruto chuckled.

"Gee," Shikamaru crossed his arms while sending glares at the jounin, "what was your first clue, Sherlock?"

"Tsunade-sama," Ino approached, "what do we do? I mean, Sakura knows how to take care of herself. However, I believe she doesn't know what she has gotten herself into." She pulled out a book that she had borrowed from the archives, "There was a report that said that this _Uchiha Sasuke_ used to belong to this village."

"He used to belong to Konoha?" Tsunade questioned receiving quick nods from the others. "now that you mention it, the name Uchiha sounds familiar. Very well. If that's the case, then we have to research for this Uchiha's history. And in the mean time, we have to find a suitable ANBU to watch over her. Sakura is strong, but I don't know for how long." (2)

* * *

The chilly wind swept by Sakura's face. As her eyelids slowly parted, a dark figure levitated atop of her. Her eyes widened. She made an attempt to scream for Sasuke's attention. Yet, she felt the smooth fingertips resting on the skin of her mouth. 

She took the courage to open her closed eyes and saw Sasuke over her. He made the side of his index finger rest on his lips to hint her to remain quiet. Her widened eyes signaled him to answer the question left hanging in the air.

"_Someone's coming._" He mouthed. She understood.

Sasuke removed his hand from her as she sat up. "I need for you to run," Sasuke whispered. "They probably don't know you're here with me."

"Demo…"

"Just run." He hissed. "Leave your things here. I'll have to get them away from this campsite." He turned on his heal to make an attempt to make a runner's starter position. (3)

"Matte!" Sakura hissed grabbing his arm. Sasuke turned to give her a questioning glare. "Why are you trying to protect me? I thought you said you didn't need someone weak to travel with you."

"I said I was going to take you back to Konoha," Sasuke hissed knowing that she was wasting too much time, "And I intend to keep that promise."

Before Sakura could utter a word, Sasuke flash step and made the illusion of vanishing. If he had stayed a little while longer, he would have noticed the tainted color on Sakura's cheeks.

* * *

After about 6 km (4) radius, Sasuke stopped by shifting his feet to the side allowing the dirt and dust trail behind him. He smirked being satisfied with his hiding skills. As he got up and turned to continue walking a voice interrupted. 

"_You have learned to do a better job on covering your tracks. Orochimaru-sama should be very pleased with your progress._"

Sasuke let out a soft laugh, "You actually think I did it to win that fag's favor?" He turned his vision to a man's figure settled atop of a tree branch. "You have quite the humor, Kabuto."

"I should say the same, Sasuke-kun." Kabuto laughed jumping down from the branch. With feline poise, he landed on the ground controlled. "I must say, you are becoming harder to follow by the day."

"There _is _a reason as to why I want to get away from you guys."

"And don't worry; we're not going to let you go so easily." Kabuto smirked as he raised his fingers to create a snap. A click escaped from his fingers.

On cue, several men appeared from varied places. From what Sasuke could see, there were 8 men with him each belonging to the Sound.

"What ever happened to fighting your own battles, Kabuto?" He smirked mockingly.

"Oh, I do intend to. These are just spectators to report to Orichimaru-sama about it. (5)"

Sasuke had to laugh before Kabuto could strike his first attack. With the movement of their arms and legs, the men finalized that they were using taijutsu (6) as their form of attack.

"_Ne, ne! Ganbakuto (7), Kabuto-san!_" The other men wailed and cheered.

The battle seemed to continue in an unpredictable rate. When it seemed that Kabuto had the upper hand, Sasuke was able to maneuver his hands to create a ninjutsu (8). Minute after minute the men seemed to yell and holler out of excitement of the battle. They screamed and jumped to show the heat and the adrenaline flowing out of it.

"I'm getting the idea that taijutsu isn't your strongest point, Kabuto." Sasuke smirked. Oh, how he loved the feeling, smacking the bitch around.

Kabuto laughed in return, "You'd be surprise, Sasuke-kun." Kabuto managed to smack Sasuke to the ground and jumped to provide an aerial attack.

Sasuke wiped the small trickle of blood on his chin had smirked, "Right back at 'cha." And with that, another quick reflex was made causing the men around to holler again.

* * *

Sakura stayed behind a tree several meters away from the campsite. Her hand drizzled on her face knowing that _he _had touched her there. She lowered her gaze. What the hell was she thinking? Are these… are these feelings? 

A twig snapped. Her mind was interrupted. She sensed a small trace of chakra. Could it be Sasuke? Nah, if it was, he could have surprised her like every other time. No, it must be someone different.

Using her legs, Sakura managed to jump and stood on the side still using her chakra on a high branch of a tree. Below, she could see these visitors. She analyzed their attire and especially the symbol on their forehead protector.

"Sound Nin?" Sakura cocked her head to the side showing her curiosity towards the subjects. "What the hell are they doing here?"

"_Wouldn't you like to find out?_"

Sakura's eyes widened hearing a new voice from behind her. Before should use any type of defense, he covered her mouth with one had while keeping her wrists together in the other. Sakura's eyes gaze upon the forehead protector that was on his arm. '_Shit, he's one of them_.'

The man took a good look at Sakura. The shiny metal on her head made him grin. "Soo," he started in a mocking tone, "You're one of the ninjas that belong to that busty woman's village, I see. And judging by the looks of it, you must be one of the aggressive ones." He laughed seeing Sakura desperately trying to struggle.

"_Oi, Ryuu-kun! Are you coming? I hear Kabuto-sama is picking a fight with Uchiha!_" One of the nins called from the ground.

'_Uchiha?_' Sakura's mind registered, '_Does he mean Sasuke?_'

"It seems you're in luck, Ojyou-san." Ryuu laughed a bit, "You're in for a real treat."

* * *

Kabuto kept throwing punches at Sasuke. He easily blocked them by his fits and arms. Kabuto's eyes narrowed, "You have a good form," they paused momentarily to see their arms pushing onto each other, "dammit." 

Sasuke laughed. "I'm aware. Unfortunately," Sasuke started as he pushed Kabuto away causing him to fall on his behind. Sasuke's sword seemed to touch a tip of Kabuto's nose, "I can't say the same for you, now can I?" He smirked.

"_Kabuto-san! Look what I found in the forest!_" A foreign voice called. All eyes turned towards the group that erected from the side. The four men seemed to have smug faces on. A big fellow carried a hostage with him. "We found her running away from us in the forest."

The men laughed as they saw Sakura struggle under the nin's grip. Ryuu continued to boast, "She is an aggressive one, I tell ya. I don't see anything that could identify where she is from. But by the condition of her clothes, I don't think she had traveled too far. And her head gear says she's from Konoha."

Sasuke took a better look of Sakura. She had tried to struggle under a tight embrace of her captor. He was big according to height, that's for sure. How the hell could he save his client and his pride at the same time? Well, the plan wasn't cooking up correctly in his head.

Sakura squirmed and squirmed. She saw Sasuke in a fighting stance in front of a gray-haired man. She tried to give him that _what-the-hell-are-you-doing-SAVE-ME_ look.

Kabuto noticed this. He turned his face towards to Sasuke. "You happen to know this woman, Sasuke-kun?"

"Tch," Sasuke replied trying to make an attempt to not to drag his client into his fight.

"Hmmm…" Kabuto laughed a bit. "I beg to differ. I suspect that you know this little…delicate flower (9)." He tried to find the right word to call her.

With completion of the phrase, Sakura's captor took the audacity of smothering his nose into her hair, inhaling its wonderful scent. Sakura flinched feeling the scum's skin brush against her locks. Sasuke grunted along with her.

"Oh, did I just insult you?" Kabuto had to laugh. "I thought you didn't know her." Sasuke threw his kunai at Kabuto in response. "Silly Sasuke-kun. Never give any hints of emotion when in battle. Didn't you ever learn from Orochimaru-sama?"

'_Orochimaru? As in one of the original sanin?_' Sakura questioned.

Sasuke and Kabuto continued their fight. Sakura couldn't help but watch in awe. They didn't seem too intimidating at first. She could have done all those things. She could have thrown her kunai like that. She could have used her chakra to create some snazzy attacks too. But what had caught her interest was their taijutsu. They both had such an aggressive strength and impressive speed.

Sasuke once used a technique called Konoha Kage Buyou (10). Before Kabuto could give Sasuke an aerial attack, Sasuke made a surprising move by kicking Kabuto back up into the air. Before Kabuto could even realize what had been going on, Sasuke grabbed him from behind and sends him hurling to the ground.

The ninja seemed to enjoy this fight a lot. Sakura couldn't help but be appalled by the men's behavior. She took a moment to calculate a plan as to how she could get Sasuke and herself to escape. She squirmed even more. She heard some clanking noises. '_My kunai?_' She had finally used that over sized brain of hers.

But her train of thought was interrupted. It seems like Kabuto was able to get Sasuke down. And by the looks of it, Sasuke might not be able to keep this up for long. Sakura wanted to escape the grip of her captor and go to Sasuke's aid. Once again, Sakura lacked the strength to.

Yet once again, Sasuke was able to get back onto his feet and continue. It amazed Sakura that he could push himself to keep on going. He had an abundance of scratches and some deep wounds. Flips and turns, kicks and punches, one after another, it seemed like the battle continued on forever. That was until…

Sakura opened her eyes widened as the two finally stopped fighting. They were both huffing and puffing, trying to regain their strength. Sasuke's breath began to be heavy. He wiped the blood that ran from the corner of his lips while keeping a close eye on his opponent. Kabuto did the same but had kept one eye closed due to the fact that his body seemed heavy. They seemed to be an equal level. Out of nowhere, Kabuto started making hand seals. That's when Sasuke saw Kabuto's chakra.

The chakra started to flow towards Kabuto's hands. What was he trying to do? That's when Sakura's eyes widened in fear. She recognized that jutsu. She pulled her head up. Her mouth escaped from her captor's arm. She took a large gasp of air before yelling, "**Sasuke-kun! Watch out!**" Her scream caught Sasuke's immediate attention. But it had reacted too late.

Kabuto's chakra already spilled out of his hands and ran them onto Sasuke's chest. He grunted feeling the sudden charge and slowly having affected his body.

"What is Kabuto-sama doing?" Sakura heard Ryuu questioned.

The answer slipped out of Sakura's mouth without facing the man. She was too engulfed with the sight that she could even focus on who asked the question. "Chakra no Mesu (11). It is only used by medic nins. The user's chakra would cut his target's muscles and blood vessels without any damage to the skin. It is difficult for any ninja to perform because there would be a great chance… of…" Her voice traveled to silence leaving the attentive listener is suspense. She took deep breaths to process her thoughts clearly and to keep herself from crying.

"Pain?" One suggested.

"Torture?" Another cried.

A small gasped escaped from her lips, "…death." The men gasped with widened eyes while other smiled in delight because of the intense outcome of the battle. She couldn't help but start to cry. She knew the chances for surviving were slim… okay, _very _slim. The jutsu could be fully effective if it has been done correctly. And by the looks of Sasuke's condition, Kabuto must have done it almost perfectly.

Sasuke was on the ground coughing out blood and gripping his stomach to withstand the pain. Kabuto smirked seeing the know-it-all squirm. He loved the sight, absolutely loved it. His eyes gazed toward the pink-haired kounoichi who quietly cried for him. The sight made his smirk even more.

He gripped Sasuke's collar and brought him up despite the lack of strength in his ankles. Kabuto brought him close to closely examine Sasuke's reactions. "So, Sasuke-kun, who's the girl?" Kabuto motioned his head towards Sakura. He smirked seeing Sasuke's cheeks burn.

"She's none of your damn business." Sasuke spat making sure that a unique mixture of blood and saliva met Kabuto's skin.

Kabuto understood it now. One thing he was grateful about Sasuke, his emotions were always spread across his face.

He threw Sasuke onto the dirt several feet from him and laughed. "Dear, dear, Sasuke-kun, why must you waste my time with this—what's the word—hunt?" He chided the fallen shinobi. "This '_hunt_' of yours is pointless. And seeing you using every trick in the book is absolutely hilarious." He stood in front of Sasuke who was still grasping his stomach.

"But you know," Kabuto continued, "I never thought of you as the type to use a woman to get _him_ into your grasp." Kabuto laughed even harder as he made another kick into his already damaged body.

'_What the hell does he mean by that?' _Sakura questioned through the midst of her tears.

"You're really a moron, you know that?" Kabuto laughed seeing Sasuke coughing out more blood. He grabbed Sasuke's hair to force him make eye contact. "Do you think you could depend on a weak, little girl to help you on your vengeance?" Before Sasuke could respond, Kabuto used his chakra to make another attack on his arm. Sasuke screamed as the spectators' cheer crescendo.

'_Little? Help? What the hell are they talking about?_' Sakura questioned.

Kabuto laughed seeing Sasuke retreating form. "And to think, you were going to use her to get to your brother? What person—no—**moron** in their right mind would see a girl _like her _to be bait for one of the Akatsuki, _the _Uchiha Itachi? "

'_Akatsuki? Does he mean…?_' Sakura's attention faced towards Sasuke. '_He was trying to use me to get someone from that Akatsuki organization?_'

"So what were you going to use her for?" Kabuto laughed seeing Sasuke trying to avoid Sakura's gaze. "What would she have done for you in order to get your brother? Act as your spy? A decoy? Or maybe even to sleep with your brother?"

Sasuke's cheeks became redder as he averted Sakura's wide eyes. Kabuto laughed. "That wouldn't be fair, ne?"

Kabuto dropped Sauke's head. With a loud thud, Sasuke's head met the ground. Kabuto used his foot to move Sasuke's body so that he was able to firmly place his foot on his chest and let gravity has its way. "After all, you'd never be as great as your brother, you worthless piece of filthy shit."

Sakura closed her eyes shut and turned away. This was too much.The fact that he needed her only because he wanted to use her was too much to bear. '_Why is this happening...? I have to do something._'

'**_No shit, Sherlock! That Sasuke-kun of ours is getting the crap beaten out of him and all you could do is cry your damn eyes out?_**' Her inner self started to argue.

'_This is a really bad time…_' Sakura tried to block her inner self from having anymore shenanigans. '_I think that selfish bastard is the least of my worries now._'

'**_Listen, moron, we can argue as much as you want, but that sexy man is having the shit beat out of him. We can mope around now and get raped, or we can save him and get outta here._**'

'_Demo…He tried to use me—us! Don't you find that wrong?_' Sakura cried in helplessness. '_Besides, even if I wanted to do something, I can't. I don't know what to do._'

'_**Four eyes called you a weak, little girl**._'Sakura snapped remembering what Kabuto had called her. And knowing Sakura, she would taken the comment to easily.

She took the liberty of feeling her thigh where she had hopefully kept an extra kunai. '_Got it!_' She reached for it and positioned it on her hand. '_Hopefully this works._' She angled it in such a way that when she threw it up, it had given her captor a decoy for his eyes to follow. With his guard down, Sakura was able to move her legs. She used one of position her heel in front of his crotch area, leaving the captor no choice but to comfort his private area.

Hearing a sudden commotion, Kabuto turned to see Sakura making her way towards him with flying kunais on their way. He made a leap to dodge them as Sakura rushed to kneel by Sasuke's side.

Sasuke looked at her with a small hint of confusion as he gripped his arm hoping that the pain would cease. "What the hell do you think you are doing?" He hissed gripping his arms. "This is my battle. You're not to meddle with my affairs." He brought himself up to look at her.

"**Shut the fuck up!**" Sakura cursed as her hands searched around her body for those familiar daggers. She was well beyond pissed off. "Dammit, where are they?" She cursed aloud trying to find the kunai.

"Sakura!" Sasuke yelled as he used his good arm to support his weight to make a smooth kick to knock-out one of the nins from getting hold of her. Sakura turned almost two seconds afterwards to see Sasuke save her again. Unknowingly, she felt the kunai in her bag near her upper thigh. Sakura whipped out her black gloves and gave them an intimidating tug.

"Sasuke, stay down!" Sakura commanded. Sasuke did as told, as Sakura latched out four kunais in between her fingers. Ironically, small pouches were tied to these kunai. The other nin raised a brow on this move.

'_Having a pouch tied to the kunai would make it move slower,_' they reasoned. Using a quick movement, Sakura threw the daggers in one hand, followed by the other in the same movement. As the kunai were dodged easily and had impact, the pouches made a small explosion releasing only small bits of written paper. The nin laughed, "Is this all you have, Ojyou-chan?"

Sakura smirked, they were intimidated. "Sakura Fubuki no Jutsu (12)…" She grinned revealing a final kunai with a parchment on one hand. With a quick release, the kunai landed on the ground.

"What the…?" One asked coming close to it.

Kabuto widened his eyes, knowing what the tag was. "Retreat!"

"Nani?"

It was too late. The tag was an explosive tag. The small pieces of written paper started to ignite with the larger one. Sakura grabbed Sasuke and began to run.

_**KA-BOOM!**_

Anything within the paper's range came with the explosion.

Ryuu ran his way towards Kabuto who was able to get a safe distance away from the explosion. "Kabuto-sama, they have escaped. Would you like is to track them down?"

"—Iie." Kabuto retorted holding his arm out to signal that it was not necessary. "I want to see how far this little kounoichi can take our former ally. After all," Kabuto smirked raising his index and middle finger now fully charged with chakra and running them across his cheek where a deep cut laid, "I want to see how he has improved." As soon as his fingers left his skin, the cut completely healed.

* * *

"So what are we gonna do, Obaa-chan?" Naruto asked with his arms folded. 

"I told you, Naruto, I will find an ANBU who is willing to take this mission." Tsunade sighed with her patience growing thin.

"But _I _told you that she left this afternoon. Is this a time to construct a search party?"

"She's not missing, you dolt." Ino scolded. "We know that she's traveling." Ino turned her face towards the Hokage of the village, Tsunade. "Onegai, Tsunade-sama, do you have any idea as to what we should do? I mean, there are many reports about this Uchiha and I'm not sure if Sakura is going to be absolutely safe."

Tsunade seemed to take the idea. However, after a moment of silence, it seemed quite the opposite.

"Tsunade-sama!"

Tsunade turned her revolving chair to a side to show the two her profile. "You come barging into my office to late at night and expect an automatic answer?"

"Well, we were."

"It was a rhetorical question, Naruto."

Tsunade sighed. "This is what I will do. Since this a delicate situation, I cannot give you an answer as of yet. We cannot make it a simple mission to retrieve Sakura because no one would be financing for it, and we can't put it as a mid-rank."

"Why not an S-Rank mission?" Ino narrowed hereyes.

"The situation isn't that intense." Naruto sighed hearing Tsunade's reply. (13) "I'll inform you as to what may come. Dismissed."

"Demo—"

"I said you are dismissed." Tsunade narrowed her eyes at the blonde shinobi. Naruto couldn't help but surrender. He looked at Ino apologetically. He gave the I've-tried-all-that-I-could face. Ino nodded in agreement and followed Naruto out the door.

Tsunade couldn't help but keep her narrowed eyes on, especially when one shinobi hasn't left yet. "Why are you still doing here, Nara-kun? I've told you to leave with your wife and your friend."

"Although I may seem lazy at times, Tsunade-sama," Shikamaru sighed as he turned to leave in the same direction Naruto and Ino had gone, "I analyze things quite accurately. So I'm just going to lay it out on the floor now." He stood almost near the hallway before he continued without facing the famous Hokage.

"There is something that you are not telling us." Shikamaru started. "I'm still quite unsure as to what as of yet. But I must warn you," He turned to Tsunade with a small smirk. "You know as well as I do, that Naruto isn't really all that patient." He laughed slightly before leaving the room.

After they were sure that the group has left, Shizune turned to Tsunade with a concerned look on her face. "What do you plan on doing, Tsunade-sama? I believe the family name Uchiha has not appeared in ANBU reports in a long time."

Tsunade made a large inhale and exhale of air. With her fingers folded with each other and her chin resting on the support of her folded hands, Tsunade sighed. She turned her swivel chair around to peer through the village. Her eyes caught sight of the not-so-innocent-little-kids-anymore group that was in her office not too long ago.

"To be honest, Shizune," Tsunade started as Shizune watched in concern, "I do not know."

* * *

"Done," Sakura sighed as she finished bandaging Sasuke's ribs as well as his arm. 

Sasuke looked at the bandages around his arms and raised a brow. As much as he hated to admit it, the girl did a good job. Coincidentally, their gazes met. For the first time, both were too embarrassed to look at the other.

She had tried to avoid the question since they escaped. She really did. Of course that womanly curiosity kept taunting her. She figured that might as well take the first initiative. "Sasuke-kun," She quickly retreated seeing Sasuke's eyes automatically met hers. "Back there… with Kabuto…was-was it true? Were you going to use me to seek revenge?"

He was silent. Sakura furrowed her brows, "Tell me that it isn't true. Tell me that I'm strong."

Sasuke spoke plainly to her. "I don't like my brother because of what he did to me and our family. The only way to avenge my family's pride is to humiliate him. The only way to humiliate him was to have someone like you. I thought of asking you to help me and in return I would help you find your friend. However in the end, you aren't strong enough."

Sakura wanted the truth, and there it was. The words were so dark but elegantly put that it was hard to decipher whether she should be angry at him for using her or nailing her pride. It seemed to dampen the atmosphere around them. She had to move, at least avoid him for a while.

"I forgot to collect some herbs. I-I'll be right back." She said in between sniffles.

In slow motion, Sasuke saw her get up and run away from him. During that time, her tears shone due to the moonlight. It reminded Sasuke of something, a time where only Satan would not feel any remorse.

_It was during the same time. The room became moonlit as the clouds started to to move away. It revealed the woman looking at him pleadingly. The tears began to run. The whimpering began. Time stood still for the two. One swift silenced her.  
_

Sasuke grunted averting his gaze back towards the fire. He grunted, "This girl is making you weak, Sasuke."

* * *

Sakura kept running. Words spun around her head. What the hell was this journey coming to? She needed someone important. She needed someone to hold her. 

Like a typical drama, she tripped over her fumbling feet. She picked herself up to kneel while holding her face in place. She cried and yelled loudly. All this anger and sadness had been building up. It was about time she was releasing it all.

After a couple of minutes of revealing stress, she felt something brush against her cheek whispering in a familiar tone, "Sakura." A cold wind gusted giving her the sensation that someone was embracing her.

She turned abruptly and cried, "Neji!"

She turned slowly to see the dark forest unlit by the familiar moonlit eyes she recognized. She lowered her head. She realized what the natured had done. It tried to remind her of the reason why she accepted the chance to come out here. Of course, it was because she needed to find him.

She sighed as she picked herself up to walk.

* * *

The sky shared their sadness. Though the sky shone with its light and stars, it was solemnly dark. Sakura found herself walking back towards the campsite where Sasuke was sitting only a few meters from the lake they had gotten their dinner from. 

It was strange to think that Sasuke could stay so quiet. Most of the time, he'd wise crack his way or use that sarcasm of his. Maybe being a wise ass was his cover. After all… he did try to use her.

Sasuke concentrated his sight on the bandage on his arm. Then he moved his vision towards the lake. Its glistening reflection glared some its brightness at Sasuke almost like a taunt. He noticed a pink-haired figure nearing him. He moved his gaze back towards his reflection as this figure sat next to him. Still without a word said, Sakura and Sasuke enjoyed a small moment of peace. Maybe the acknowledgement of each other's company was worth it.

For a change, Sasuke started the conversation, "I intended to tell you at first."

Sakura looked at him questionably. He continued, "I didn't mean to mislead you or anything. I just wanted to get _him_. I wanted to get him within my web and kill him." Sasuke said bitterly. "I didn't want to use you like that…" It sounded like he wanted to add more. But the way he sounded, expressed it, he was holding back.

'**_He's an angsty, sexy bastard, isn't he?_**' Sakura's inner voice commented.

'_Baka…_' Sakura replied to her inner self.

Sakura brought her knees into a tight embrace. "Actually, Sasuke-kun, I haven't been entirely been honest with you too."

Sasuke's ears showed some promise to this little confession. He looked attentively at Sakura with a curious look in his face.

"I am not looking for just a friend." Sakura played with the dirt. Her dainty fingers traced circles. "The one I'm looking for is someone dear to me. He…he needs to come back. I need to find him. He has many people waiting for him back in Konoha, his teammates, his friends, his family, me…"

Sakura laughed a bit to make some type of mockery of herself. "As cheesy as it sounds," she tried to hold back some emotion. Unfortunately, her tears got the best of her. "I need him. Without him… I don't know what I'll do."

Sasuke scoffed as Sakura tried to avertedly wipe her tears from her face. His gaze turned back to the lake where the moon's reflection attracted his attention. "You don't need someone to complete you."

Sakura paused momentarily to listen.

"You don't need to depend on others for your happiness. I mean, it's _your _happiness, not theirs." What was this? Sasuke is giving advice …sort of. He took a quick glance at Sakura. The droplets were still visible. He groaned, "And will you stop crying? You might ruin that already pale face of yours."

His concern made Sakura think. When was there a time when someone seemed so cold one moment then changed completely one-eighty? Who was that person?

_You'll wait for me, right?_

The familiar husky voice echoed in her head. '_Neji…_'

It seemed to long ago. Since he had left, she had remembered everything she had done prior to his departure. More importantly his honest smile that asked that familiar question.

Was she going crazy? Why did she compare her one and only to this new man, her bodyguard—no her _guide_?

"Oi, are you listening to me?" Sasuke interrupted her thoughts. Sakura shook her head to physically show him that she wasn't paying attention. Sasuke sighed, "I said go to sleep now. It's late. We have to leave at early dawn if we're going to get to the next village before tomorrow night."

Sakura paused momentarily to fully take in what he had just said. Sakura's eyes lit up. She jumped from her sitting position to give a huge hug to Sasuke while repeating _Arigatou _countless times. Thanks to her sudden outburst, she caused him to topple over. She couldn't help but laugh. Sasuke couldn't help but blush. If this is how she'd react at a _small _act of kindness, he was not looking forward to a _simple _one.

"Goddamn, woman! Constrain yourself!" He yelled trying to release himself from her grip. Evidently, Sakura just continued laughing and smiling. Sasuke sighed in a _oh-good-Lord_ way. Absentmindedly, he began to stroke her hair. He silently thanked God that it was too dark to see the glowing tint in his cheeks.

* * *

(1) _Well… it does make sense. When you are out on a mission, you (as a girl) can't afford for your breasts to be in the way. So I guessed that she would have bandaged it so it wouldn't… 'move'. No matter what size…using Tsunade would be a bad example._  
(2) _This is the few moments where we'll be checking in on Konoha._  
(3) _Such as the stances in a meter dash._  
(4) _About 4 miles for the people living in the US_  
(5) _At times, I feel like Kabuto is Oro's bitch. Sorry but had to admit it._  
(6) _Body Techniques. For instance, kicking, punching, etc._  
(7) _Good Luck. And if it's spelt wrong, hey, I tried to do it phonetically._  
(8) _Secrecy and Skill Technique_  
(9) _To be honest, I'm tired, **really tired,** of hearing Sakura being called "the cherry blossom" in situations as these. If I ever read such things again, I just might throw up. But since the cliché is perfect (because of it's English translation), "delicate flower" will do… I suppose._  
(10) _Leaf Shadow Dance_  
(11) _Chakra Scalpel_  
(12) _Cherry Blossom Snow Storm Technique- This ninjutsu had been done **only** in the movie. Why even let her use this if it's only in the movie? Only because this only the attack-like jutsu she could do, at this point. (sulks) Seriously, they have to make her do some cool jutsus soon._  
(13) _Usually, according to my observations, when lower ranked missions are given there is usually some payment. Mid-ranked missions require some sure fact or safety of Konoha. And the Special mission is a little more lethal side._

_So here are some questions that make you say 'Goddamn, I hate this person so much!' **W**hy does Sakura compare Sasuke with Neji? **W**hat do these Sound Nins want from Sasuke? **W**here is Neji? **I**s there another reason why Sasuke still wants to escort Sakura? ** W**hy did I bother to type these questions? _

_What better way to have them answered than to review?_

_You know, it's really funny to think that there were 3000+ views (aka hits) of this particular story. Yet… there are only about…hmm… 32 reviews? (wonders in silence) Hmm… this world confuses me sometimes…But it's a start I guess. __And see? Because you reviewed, I was able to get it out faster this time! You don't have to wait a whole year! Isn't that great? So guess what'll make the next chapter come out. (smiles)  
_

_Anyway, thank you for reading Chapter 3! It's not as long as last chapter. Thank God too.  
_

_Although Miss **Queen Cow and Steak** has not replied me the Beta-ed version of this chapter, I hope she is somewhat proud of my revision. _


End file.
